Harry Potter and the God of Death
by Shadestar64
Summary: Harry Potter finds a Death Note before his 11th birthday, and accidentally kills the Dursleys. ONGOING. Updates about once a week. Long form writing, intended to pace the story about as fast as the actual books.
1. Finding the Note and First Blood

Mr. Vernon Dursley was having a very good Friday. No day was perfect, as he was coming home to see to an issue his wife had called about, but he had just settled a major deal with a large Cornish construction firm, been given a free birthday cake to give to his son by his senior staff members, and had managed to give himself a massive pay raise by firing 20 employees. Grunnings was doing better than ever. He was planning to go shopping over the weekend to buy Dudley that 37th present he had been meaning to buy, and now he didn't even have to buy a cake. Saving money was always a favorite activity for Mr. Dursley. He had just been saying to his wife Petunia that very morning,

"Petunia, if I've said it once, I've said it at least 20 times. Being rich is good. Being even richer is great."

As he drove into number 4 Privet Drive, he thought again about how much great it feels to fire someone. The look of shock, full of the feeling that "this can't be happening to me! I'm far too important! You can't do this!". But of course he could. A West Indian man, Mr. Copeland, had slunk out with a dead look rivaling the potter boy on his more pathetic nights.

"The scrawny negro." Mr. Dursley thought. " He didn't even have the dignity to yell at me. Most of those black bastards try to take your head off when you chuck 'em out the door. If only they were all as spineless as that we could deal with them in this country."

Mr. Robert Copeland was having a very bad Friday. His husband had been on the verge of recovering from a bad case of the flu, when he got the call that he had been diagnosed with Lung cancer. He had gone into the boss's office to tell him the news and to ask for the day off, when Mr. Dursley had laid him off. He came in the door and Mr. Dursley said,

"Ah, Mr." Looking down at his desk at a sheet of paper, "Copeland. I was just going to have my secretary call you."

"What? Oh, well what it is?" Robert was really hoping to not have some major piece of work dumped on his plate right as he was about to leave.

"If you could please sign this form, we can have this all settled as quickly as possible. I'm really in rather a hurry. My wife has called with the worst news I could imagine. My boy has had a bit of a scuff at school, and I must see to it before I can get anything else done."

Robert gave a quick glance at the paper, and was shocked to see that is was a pink slip.

"What is this?"

" Your kind, I mean, you can read English right? Really I don't want to waste any time with this. We're simply looking towards new direction at Grunnings, and some sacrifices must be made. Your last paycheck will be sent to the address you write down, so make sure to get it right."

Robert was astonished. He couldn't even choke out an angry stutter. His eyes felt lidless as his hand went through the motions of signing his name and address. He got up and walked out the door with a blank mind. He vaguely noticed the eyes of his former colleagues looking at him as he walked out the door, forgetting even to pack up his meager desk supplies. Once he had gotten to the car, the horror set in. Phillip has been out of work for a month. He definitely won't be able to get back to work now. I might not be able to find work for a year, and we'll be kicked out of the apartment if we can't pay the rent next month. A scream ripped out of Robert and he broke down right there in the car.

Harry Potter was having a fairly ordinary Friday. That is to say he had received the same amount of bruising he received from Dudley and his gang that he did on most days, and he had even managed to get a pathetic swing in at Dudley. That one success though might quickly turn the day much fouler, as his Aunt Petunia was making an absolute fuss over her "poor duddy-kins".

Dudley was of course putting on the amazing act he had been using for years to trick the incredibly doting Petunia into thinking her 200 pound, nearly 11 year old son had been beaten by the 60 pound, clearly bruised Harry.

"Oh, Duddy, as soon as your father gets home, that boy won't be able to hurt you anymore!"

"It hurts so much!" Dudley wailed in a way as convincing as a dog standing in front of wrecked room claiming to have done nothing.

Harry listened from his room, the cupboard under the stairs, waiting until his Uncle got home. By this point he knew that this lockup was only the beginning, but that eventually this too would pass, and the ordinary stasis of being, until the next minor slight elicited some new punishment.

After about 20 more minutes of waiting, Harry's Uncle Vernon arrived home. Upon seeing his crying son, who had raised his volume yet again, went straight to the cupboard and yanked out the struggling harry.

"What kind of an ingrate do you think you are?" Uncle Vernon seethed at Harry. The smell of rank fish and pickles was on his breath. "I let you live in my home, eat my food, and this is how you show your appreciation?"

Harry knew that by this point he could not avoid a beating if he sprouted wings and tried to fly away. That would probably only cause him to get starvation for a week added to the list of punishments.

"I'm sorry!" Harry tried to squeak out, but a new tirade of insults, primarily about his ungrateful, pathetic existence, with a few jibes at his useless dead parents. It was at this point that Harry muttered a short "I wish you were the dead ones…", but unfortunately for him his uncle had better ears when it came to hearing anything that could excuse some violence.

"You'll get it for that one!" His uncle took his meaty paws and lifted the small child up and carried him off to be belted. The last thing Harry heard before his uncle locked the cupboard door that night was Dudley's joyous cries upon hearing that they would be getting ice cream that night.

"Actually," thought Harry, "that was much worse than usual." His skin was raw all over except for his face and hands. Wouldn't want the police or teachers to suspect anything. Harry squatted in his cage seething with rage. He couldn't even sit properly due to the beating, and couldn't stand anymore in the cupboard, even though he was so short for his age. Every few minutes or so he would lash out in a brief moment of excess anger, punching the door fruitlessly before succumbing to the dullness of being in the cupboard.

The house was very quiet without the Dursleys around. The last dog Dudley had owned had died about a year ago under mysterious circumstances, and so of course harry had been blamed. Harry had hated that dog nearly as much as the dogs Uncle Vernon's sister would bring from time to time, but he hadn't done anything to it. It had just keeled over one day, and the vets had no idea why.

Harry set about doing the few things he could do while it was dark in his cupboard. He played with the toy horses that had stopped being so fun after the 10,000th charge to kill Dudley had failed. He thought about Dudley's birthday that was coming the next week, and how he had been told that he would be able to come along, even though being left in the house unlocked would have been a minor dream come true. After the 20th time he tried to sit and felt the sting on his bum, he lost control. He couldn't stand to stay in this cramped hole anymore! He smashed his small frame against the door, even though his shoulder hurt immensely. After three good charges, a miracle seemed to happen.

The lock seemed to _melt_ straight through.

Harry was stunned. It didn't make any sense, but the fact was that he was free. He sprung forward and without thinking for more than a moment, unlocked the front door and simply walked outside. It was about 9:00 at night in mid July, so there were still a few people outside on Privet Drive, but not enough to notice the young boy bursting out of the Dursley's door. Harry looked around and started to just walk off. In his mind there were a thousand thoughts.

"I could just go. No one could stop me. The Dursley's wouldn't call anyone. They'd probably even throw a 'we hate Harry Potter' party to celebrate." After three blocks of this type of thinking he turned around and stopped. He had nowhere to go, and no prospects but homelessness or foster care to look forward to. Harry kept walking forward shaking with anger over his predicament, when he spotted something odd in the road.

There was a notebook sitting there, with a pure black cover. Attached to the spine was a holster for an ornate white pen, topped with a pen cap in the shape of a white heart. It looked to be made of some type of leather, but when Harry picked it up it felt strangely warm and soft. It looked like one of the expensive notebooks that Dudley was given when the Dursley's bought his school things and then was inevitably used to shoot spit wads at Harry's head. It was at that moment that a car chose to speed by and Harry had to quickly rush to the sidewalk or get run down.

Harry started randomly walking while looking over the notebook. He didn't know why he felt so drawn to it, but he reasoned that anything that he could call his own possession would be alluring. There was no insignia or writing on the cover or back to indicate who made the notebook, or even where it came from. As he quickly flipped through the pages, he saw a large amount of writing in languages he didn't recognize or understand, though there were some written in Asian characters, and a few in English mixed amongst the rest. As he read the English passages, it took only a short while to realize what they were.

One said "Joseph McArthur, 12:37 pm, head crushed by falling rocks." Another said "Phyllis Adams, 2:37 am, shot by ex-boyfriend when he finds her in bed with her lover". A third was immensely complicated filling the entire page, detailing the times and places of a dozen different people that ended in the suicide of a woman named Ankita Patel.

"Whoever wrote this really wanted these people to die", thought Harry. Imagining the person who would hate someone enough to detail a page long description of their death made Harry imagine the Dursley's in that position. He imagined them suffering in the same way that they made him suffer everyday, and then being free from them forever. About a block away from Number 4, Harry sat on the curb and uncapped the pen. On a fresh page he wrote this:

Vernon Dursley. Petunia Dursley. Dudley Dursley. 12:15 am. July 13th. Having returned safely to their home at Number 4 privet drive after leaving for ice cream fall asleep, a disgruntled employee of Vernon, enraged by his boss's mistreatment, breaks into their home and stabs the three Dursleys to death after telling them how despicable they are. Having no knowledge of the Dursley's unwanted and unloved nephew he leaves him alone in his cupboard. They suffer incredible pain as they die.

Harry stared at what he wrote feeling a strange combination of joy and sickness. He felt every sting of his injuries as he wrote about a world where his "family" was gone. But even an eleven year old knew how sick the idea of murder was. In anger at himself for even considering the idea, he ripped the page from the notebook and hastily shoved the crumpled page down the nearest storm drain. He almost threw the notebook down the drain too, but there were enough empty pages that he could make use of it. He made his way back inside Number 4 without too much trouble, as even he was allowed a key so as not to annoy the neighbors if he got locked out. The Dursleys had taken no notice of the cupboard as they went to bed, doing their best to ignore Harry's existence as usual. Sulking at his inability to effectively run away, he snuck back into the house and tried to go to sleep.

Late that night Harry awoke to hear what sounded like an explosion. There were lights all over the front of house, so Harry couldn't see anything. He was still incredibly groggy, and tried to peer through the grate on his cupboard door. It took about a minute but he managed to see that someone had crashed their car directly into the front door of the Dursley's house, and it was the headlights that were blinding him. It was at that moment that he heard the screams and the silence. Harry heard another door slam and a crashing as someone came running down the stairs. Harry stayed hidden, but managed to get a glimpse of a Black man holding a large knife and some of his Aunt's Jewels in another hand. Harry went white to see that his hands were covered in blood. He quietly huddled in the back of his cupboard clutching his blanket to him as close as he could.

Without noticing Harry, the man rushed back into the still running car and started to pull back out of the front door. His car stalled several times with all the wood that had splintered around gumming the wheels, when the wails of police sirens began to arrive in the distance. When that happened, the man turned off the car and quickly ran back up the stairs. Harry started to gather up the few things he had. Even in his shocked state he knew that he had to run now. Even if the police did make it inside, he couldn't be sure the man with the knife wouldn't find him first. He grabbed the toy soldiers and horses, his glasses case and extra tape, a rain jacket full of patches, and the leather notebook. Before he could turn around to make a break for it, Harry was being rudely grabbed by a skinny arm. He was terrified to imagine that man coming back for him and lashed out wildly, and another mad event happened. A slurry of fiery sparks leapt into the air, causing the figure behind harry to yell "What the blazes! Harry calm down!" The smell of cats made harry realize that the person who had just tried to grab him in the dark was Mrs. Figg.

The batty old cat lady who lived down on a nearby street was somehow in his house trying to grab his shirt collar. Nothing was making sense anymore, and Harry was fighting a war in his head between screaming in fear, running as fast as he could, or just collapsing from the madness of the last 20 minutes. What did end up happening was a squeak, and then a:

"Mrs. Figg, what are you doing here?"

"Never mind that yet Harry, give us your hand."

"What?" Harry couldn't process the question for more than a second when Mrs. Figg quickly grabbed his arm and shoved it into her massive old purse. She made him touch something cold and metallic, and then the whole world collapsed around him.

There was an intense yanking on his midsection, as if someone had put a fishhook into his spine and pulled back. Mrs. Figg kept a firm grasp on his arm as the world spun madly, with only the two of them standing still.

"What is happening?!," Harry screamed against the wind surrounding them.

"Just relax! Dumbledore will explain everything once we get to Diagon Alley!" Mrs. Figg said as calmly as one could while speaking in what appeared to be gibberish. He was just about to try to wrench his arm away when it felt like the ground rushed up to meet him and his legs buckled under him. Mrs. Figg managed to keep her balance, but only barely.

"God blasted Portkeys!" Mrs. Figg swore. Nearly broke my back the last time I had to use one of these. Harry was quickly losing track of the random words she was spewing. He would usually think that this was proof the old lady had finally lost her mind, but the vortex they had apparently just traveled through proved that something else was going on. Harry looked around and it appeared that they were in a room in what looked like a hotel room from the 19th century. There was a large bed with gold colored posts, a nightstand with a lit candle on it, and a large wooden wardrobe standing in the corner.

"Wh-Where are we?" Harry looked out the window and saw that it was still dark out. "What's going on? What's happening? What's…"

"Stop there Harry, and sit down please. I'm very sorry about what's happened, but we needed to get you out of that house before the Muggles streamed in." Mrs. Figg attempted to give harry a highly awkward hug. It was after a minute of silence that the truth of the situation settled in on Harry. "My aunt and Uncle and cousin are dead." The words fell out of his mouth in the same mixture of happiness and disgust he had felt earlier that night. The horror of that moment made him think of the notebook again and wonder aloud, "It's my fault."

"Oh I'm so sorry Harry." Mrs. Figg said with what was surely a very good attempt at sincerity. Anyone who knew the Dursleys couldn't have sounded 100% unhappy at that moment. "I know they were your family, but you had no part in it. It was just some muggle burglar. We're not really sure who he was yet, It's all moving too fast."

"What do you mean 'we'. Who are you? What the hell was in your purse! And what is this place?!" Harry started off quiet but his voice ended the last question something between a scream and a choke.

"I think I can answer some of your questions Harry, but first you need a cup of tea."

A tall man with a long silver beard entered the room. He was carrying a cup filled with piping hot tea, but what was most remarkable was that following the man were two more cups, a lantern, and a kettle, all floating in midair. Harry jumped off the bed and stared open mouthed and wide eyed at the floating tea set, nearly forgetting the fact that his only living family was now dead.

"The cups are…"

"Very hot, so I hope you will be careful." Said the old man, handing him the cup.

"I guess I'll just leave you two here." Said Mrs. Figg. "I'll be heading home now. It's nearly 1 in the morning, and I'll need to feed my cats in the morning.

"Thank you Arabella. I will make sure that you are not troubled regarding your presence on Privet Drive tonight, and I thank you for bringing Harry so quickly. No one else would have done so with such celerity and grace." Mrs. Figg blushed at the old man's words, and gave a muffled "Of course Professor Dumbledore. Goodnight", before leaving with her cup of tea.

"To begin, Harry, my name is Albus Dumbledore. Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron. We have brought you to London so that we can protect you. I am here to help you through this difficult time and to answer any questions that you may have."

Harry had no idea where to begin, but thought that he might as well start with where they were.

"So what happened when Mrs. Figg grabbed my arm? It felt like the whole world was spinning."

"Ah yes, that is what we call a portkey. They are magical devices that allow us to travel great distances in mere moments."

"Magic?" Harry exclaimed. "And who are 'we'? I still have no idea who you are."

"Of course. Harry, I am a professor at a school of Magic. A place called Hogwarts where we teach young witches and wizards in the arts of spellwork, enchantments, among others. Just like you." He said this with a small smile on his face. Despite the strangeness of the situation, Dumbledore's voice made Harry feel safe.

"I'm a what?"

"A Wizard. Just like your parents before you. Oh I almost forgot," Dumbledore reached into his robe pocket, "to give you this." He handed Harry a letter that said:

Mr. H Potter

Third Room on the right hand side, third floor

Leaky Cauldron

Diagon Alley

London

He quickly opened the letter and put it near the lantern light. It spoke of wondrous things. A school of magic far away. Lists of spell books and potion ingredients. A magic wand. All of it meant that he, Harry Potter, was a _wizard_. He thought back over all of the odd events in his life, especially those from that night. The melted lock. The sparks that appeared. _The death of his aunt and uncle and cousin. _

"I killed them. It's all my fault. I must have used magic to kill them."

"Nonsense Harry, nonsense. I am so sorry about your family." He looked sincerely sad when he said it, astonishing Harry. "But I have looked into this myself with the help of some friends that live in Surrey. Apparently a man by the name of Robert Copeland had been fired by your Uncle yesterday afternoon, and was driven to violence. And even if that was not the case, it is impossible that a wizard as young as you could kill, even with the intent." Harry wasn't so sure, but he was still excited by the prospects of a wizard school.

"And Mrs. Figg? Is she a witch?"

"No, Arabella is what we call a squib, a child of Wizarding folk without magic. This is distinct from Muggles, completely nonmagical people like your aunt and uncle."

"And so were my parents magic as well?" Harry asked, hopefully.

"Yes. And I shall tell you more about that tomorrow. We have burned the midnight oil for too long as it is, and you need your rest. Just know that you are safe, and that we at Hogwarts always have a system in place to help those in times of need. I will meet you in the pub downstairs for breakfast. My room is right next door." The professor took his leave of Harry, and for the first time since the car crash woke him, Harry was alone.

He thought over everything that had happened to him that day. His family was all dead now and he was sitting in some room he had teleported to by _magic._ He took out the notebook from his backpack and looked at the pages again. If Dumbledore could be trusted, and Harry couldn't help but trust him, then there was no way that what he wrote had anything to do with his family's death. He was finally free of the Dursleys and he was going to go to _Wizard school_.

"I'm free." Harry chuckled in the dim light.

"I wouldn't say that."

Harry turned his head to a dark corner of the room and a monstrous creature appeared, and Harry felt the air leave his lungs. It appeared as a 7 foot tall man-shaped being, but unlike any human alive. The eyes were massively large and yellow. The creature had a small mouth with blue lips, and a chin that was split down the middle. There was a long mess of pure black hair that fell to the floor, draping the arms that were nearly the length of its body. It had two huge black wings that spread as it floated towards Harry.

"I believe you are the one who found my Death Note. I don't think you're going to be _free_ for quite a while."

End of Chapter One


	2. Boredom and Excitement

_I want to quickly say thanks to everyone for the positive feedback. This is the first time I've ever written anything, so it's really inspired me to write more. I just wanted to write a quick chapter to continue the story, but I'll have another chapter done within a few days._

Chapter 2

Boredom and Excitement

Harry had had more surprising things happen that day than any other in his life, and just gave into his animal instincts. He screamed and ran at the beast stretching a scaly arm at him, trying to knock it down. In a way that was still surprising despite everything that had occurred, Harry fell right through the monster like it was a ghostly wraith. He felt nothing as he fell through, except that the world turned dark for the moment his head was inside it's body.

"Calm down little boy. No one can hear or see me except for you anyway. And if even then, I'm not going to hurt you. I can't do anything to you while you have that notebook." The creature's voice sounded like sandpaper running over very rough wood. Harry managed to calm down as he saw that the creature wasn't moving towards him anymore.

"I am obligated to explain what is happening to you or I'm likely to be obliterated by my King, but let me begin by introducing myself, little human. My name is Vim. I am a shinigami. And what is your name?" Vim sounded mostly bored, as if speaking was itself a challenge.

"My name is Harry Potter." It was strange how calm Harry felt. The room felt like it was constricting inward with the creature taking up more than half of the space. His breathing was regular and he took the moment to look closer at the thing calling itself Vim. "Can you sit? If you're not here to hurt me you should at least relax." Harry had always been a polite child, partially because the Dursleys required it, but he simply couldn't see the sense in being rude. Perhaps a little bit of self-defense was a part of the attempt to keep Vim calm.

Vim sat on the bed next to Harry, the wings retracting. "Thank you child. So why don't you bring out that notebook you found today?" Harry grabbed his backpack that was still on the bed and pulled out the notebook. Vim's eyes opened wide at seeing it, but they quickly retracted. "Yes that's the one. I've been watching you today. I saw everything you did today, and I was quite surprised at your quickness to use the note. Most people either never try to use it or debate themselves for days before they try, but you murdered your entire family within 10 minutes of discovering what you had in front of you."

"So I did kill them." Harry said this sharply, but as a statement. He had come directly from feeling relaxed at learning his magic couldn't have been responsible, to learning he had somehow found a powerful magical book. "What is this thing? And who are you?"

"As I said, I am a shinigami. A god of death. That book you now possess is called a DeathNote. In the simplest terms, a person whose name is written within the note will die. Other information about the death can be added, as you so effectively found out when your family was butchered. Otherwise, they will simply die of a Heart Attack. This note is a creation of the shinigami, and it was mine until I lost it." Vim described the murder weapon with the same tone one would use to describe a telephone: ordinary, functional, everyday. To Harry, it was as mind bending as the fact that he was a Wizard.

"So this has nothing to do with me being a Wizard like that Dumbledore man told me about? If Dudley had picked this up he'd be able to kill anyone he felt like?"

"I assume so. Frankly I knew nothing of any type of human called a wizard or magic besides the DeathNote, and other humans have managed to find and use them before. We shinigami are not often abundantly interested in humans." Harry felt satisfied at that moment at least. He may have killed his family, but it was an accident, and he stood to gain a huge amount from their deaths. He still felt guilty for the act, but now there were more important things to do. Guilt over his crime was nothing compared to making sure this book was never found by anyone like Dudley, or it may actually do a lot of harm. "So can I just get rid of this thing? Like if I chuck it in a fire will it disappear?"

"I've never tried. All I know is that the note will constantly replenish its pages, so it is possible you can't get rid of one. The only other rule I need to tell you about is that you can just give the note back to me at anytime, but you'll forget everything about the notebook and me. Until you do so, or until you die, I will be here to haunt you." The use of the word "haunt" almost made him chuckle, imagining Caspar the friendly ghost whooshing around, but then he realized this death god was going to continue following him around until he managed to get rid of the thing. At that moment Harry thought of something new.

"So what do your kind do with these things?"

"We kill people."

"Just like that? Do you even care?" Harry was getting a bit more defensive now, holding the note away from Vim.

"For a being who has lived longer than 1000 human lives combined, you humans all look puny and worthless. Shinigami gain the remaining life of the human they kill with the DeathNote. Sadly you cannot gain the life of those people whose names you have written in it. Quick question, do you have any apples?"

"No, why?"

"Just a habit. It's not like I even need to eat."

Harry considered his options. If he gave the notebook back to the shinigami, it could go right back to killing people. But if he kept it, he would always have Vim watching over him, and he'd have to protect the DeathNote in case anyone else were to steal it.

Noticing that Harry had been quiet for a while, Vim said, "So have you decided what you are going to do? I'll be going to sleep now if you plan on keeping it. I wasn't planning on doing anything today anyway.

"I'll keep it, for now."

"Whatever you wish." Vim lifted itself up into the air, and floated off into a corner on its side. Now Harry was left with the uncomfortable situation of having to go to sleep with an invisible death god sleeping near him, waiting to hear about his magical parents from a mad old professor who ran a wizarding school. He couldn't decide what felt stranger. Life was going to be much more exciting…

End of Chapter 2


	3. Hogwarts Shopping with a Shinigami

Chapter 3

Harry awoke to the sounds and smells of a cooking breakfast. At first he thought _why are the Dursleys cooking? They have me do that for them?_ But then his head came round and his memories came back. He was lying in a massive feather bed and he had never slept better in his life. The warmth of the sun was streaming into through the window at an annoying angle, but Harry just accepted it and closed his eyes again. After a few minutes the smell of bacon roused him enough to get out of bed. His great mood was quickly snuffed out when he saw the Shinigami still sleeping in the corner. It was bobbing slightly in the air, and didn't seem to notice that Harry had awoken.

Harry noticed that someone had placed new clothes in the room for him while he slept. The pants seemed normal enough, if woolen, but the rest of the outfit seemed medieval. There was a thin undershirt, a black cotton over shirt, and what appeared to be a dark gray cloak or robe. He searched through his memories and recalled that Professor Dumbledore had been wearing something similar, but in blue and silver. He had been so floored by everything that had been going on that he had completely missed that this wizard dressed like something out of a King Arthur story.

_So wizards actually wear this stuff?_ Harry thought as he looked at his reflection in the small wall mirror. He was quickly overheating in the wool, and it looked like he was wearing a superhero's cape. Amazingly, they fit perfectly, which instantly made this better than wearing Dudley's hand-me-downs. Before going downstairs, he took a final look at Vim and felt satisfied to spend some time away from it. The inside of his robes had large enough pockets to keep the DeathNote, so he stuck it in there for safekeeping.

His room was in a long hallway near a staircase, and not seeing anyone around he went down. It seemed that the smells were coming from a pub or restaurant the hotel had on the first floor, with a sizable group of people eating, drinking coffee, essentially everyday activities, but there were a few oddities. He saw a man in the back of the pub with an owl on one shoulder. A woman at the bar was handing what looked like _silver and gold _coins to the bartender for a very large and smoking drink. The fireplace randomly glowed green and people stepped out of it, brushing soot off of their robes. Everyone in the pub was wearing some sort of odd clothing, including some robes, some people still in flowing pajamas, and some in what appeared to be full leather. The only person looking out of place amongst this group was a man walking in from the street dressed like a banker. Harry saw Dumbledore sitting at a table in an out of the way corner and went over.

"Good Morning my lad. The clothes are a gift from me, and I see they are fitting splendidly. Sleep soundly I hope?" Dumbledore sounded exceedingly chipper.

" Yes. First time I've slept in a proper bed for some time." Dumbledore sighed.

"I must apologize for that Harry. It is time I told you about your family." Dumbledore spend the next hour telling him everything that the Dursleys had kept from him: That his parents had been a witch and wizard. That an evil wizard named Voldemort had murdered them. That Harry's scar came from an attempt on his life by Voldemort, which ended with Voldemort's spell backfiring and destroying him. _That he was one of the most famous people in the magical world. _Harry asked dozens of questions and by the end the biggest question he had was, "So why was I left with the Dursley's? If I'm so famous amongst the wizarding world, why couldn't I stay with them?"

"There is ancient magic that would protect you as long as you called the home of your blood relations your home. Your mother's sacrifice made this magic possible, and it was the best way to defend you from the followers of Voldemort, the Death Eaters. He had hundreds of angry followers who would have loved to kill you, so we had to act quickly. I wish to personally apologize for the torment you have suffered at their hands. It has only been in the last few years that the majority of Voldemort's supporters have been killed or imprisoned. Many times in recent months I have considered alternative options, but even now, it is not certain that Voldemort actually died on the night he killed your parents. That is why I had Arabella take you from their home as soon as they died. With their deaths, there would be nothing to bond you to that old magic, and you could be vulnerable. But you will be protected Harry. There is nothing to be concerned about. Ah, Breakfast." The wizened old barkeep brought over two large plates filled with eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, syrups, and a pot of tea and cups.

"Here you are Albus. And would you mind me asking who you have with you today? Some new student from a muggle family again?"

"Thank you Tom. And may I introduce you to Mr. Harry Potter. I will be showing him around Diagon Alley today."

"Harry Potter!" Tom quickly kneeled into a bow. "It is an honor to have you at the Leaky Cauldron." The breakfast crowd had gotten larger as Harry and Dumbledore talked, and so when Tom made his large flourish, many heads started to turn and Harry was quickly besieged by shaking hands and bowing bodies looking to meet the boy who lived. It wasn't as much of a shock as it could have been if he didn't know that the world thought was important about him, but having this much praise heaped on him for something he couldn't even remember was still odd. Dumbledore seemed very happy to see the people giving Harry the attention he had never been given as a child, but shooed them away so that they could finish their breakfast and start the day.

"So how about that Harry? Enjoying being famous?"

"Not really. I mean they're all nice, but its just not who I am, you know?"

"Well at least something good came from being stuck with those awful family members of yours." Dumbledore said flatly.

"And what's that?"

"You don't have a massively inflated ego. Your father was always cursed with one. You look exactly like him, you know. Except for the eyes. You have your mother's eyes."

Harry and Dumbledore paid for their meal with the same gold coins that Harry had seen earlier, and Dumbledore explained that they would need to get Harry some of his money before they could buy him his school supplies.

"I have money in the wizarding world?" This shocked Harry almost as much as they idea of wizards. Magic was abstract, strange, and took hours to really understand. Even after seeing things floating, fires being started with wands, and some magical creatures like Vim, it still wasn't as immediate as the idea of a bank account. Harry had never had a pound in his life, and so it grabbed his interest. He wondered when the world would stop shocking him enough to have an hour of calm.

"Your parents worked as Aurors, wizarding detectives that work for our ministry. It is a very well paying job, and Gringotts vaults last for 100 years."

Harry readied himself for whatever he was going to see in this wizarding shopping street, and it was still amazing. It was a weekend around 11 am, so the street was packed. There were shops for everything in the muggle world, but with a wizarding twist, plus shops he could never have imagined. There was a grocery shop selling entire animals and massive vegetables, seemingly grown with magic. There was a sporting goods store that sold broomsticks, balls, and padding. There was a bookstore advertising books that would make the reader speak a new language when they were finished. There was even an art store selling paintings that moved. Diagon Alley was a place that no description could cover in a single telling.

More people recognized Harry as they went down the street, but Dumbledore kept them moving. Harry saw several people reading a newspaper called the Daily Prophet with a headline saying, "Harry Potter's family murdered again! Where is the boy who lived?"

They arrived at Gringotts and Harry got his second taste of magical creatures. The place was swarming with beings Dumbledore called goblins, which made him think back on Vim. Harry asked Dumbledore, "Um, Professor, I have a question about a magical creature. Is there any kind of creature that is all black, creepy, floats around, and can't be seen by some people?" Dumbledore suddenly grew grave.

"Why? Have you seen something like that recently?"

Harry was suddenly afraid. If Dumbledore did know about the Shinigami, then would telling him about this just get him exposed? He decided to only say, "A few years ago, yeah. Why?"

"There are creatures called dementors, Harry, that can only be seen by magical people and creatures. Did the world feel cold and hopeless when you saw this thing, and were all the muggles ignoring it?" Dumbledore had stopped right in the middle of the bank to ask his questions. It seemed very important to him, so Harry tried to back out of his lie as easily as possible.

"No nothing like that. It was just kind of creepy, that's all. It was really small and had wings."

"Hmmm, well I'm not sure what you saw Harry, but I think you would know what I meant if it really was a dementor. I'm sure its nothing. If you do see anything mysterious while in the muggle world Harry, I would ask you to tell me. Dementors are supposed to stay at the prison of Azkaban, which is why I was so worried when I heard your description." Now Harry knew he couldn't ask Dumbledore about Vim now. He was too suspicious and worrisome. Maybe he could find a book in that magic bookshop.

Dumbledore sent him down into the caverns of the bank. He said that he had to meet someone there, but that you couldn't be safer in Gringotts than with a Goblin. Along with a goblin named Griphook, he made his way to his vault deep underground and was left to marvel at his wealth. The piles of gold were everyway, more than enough to live off of for many years.

"This is really quite a load you've got here, isn't it" Vim popped up right over Harry's shoulder and made him jump right into a pile of coins.

"What are you doing here?" Harry yelled in shock. "You've been sleeping all day and you suddenly show up when I'm all alone?"

"Hey calm down there. You'll hurt my feelings. Weren't you taught to be nice to girls? I thought that's what humans did? At least when I last checked a century or two ago."

Harry looked confused. "You're a girl?" The shinigami was so monstrous he couldn't have even tried to assign a gender to it, though the scratchy voice had made him assume Vim was more male than not.

"Not like it matters. Gender only exists on a superficial level for my kind. So, kill anyone since I saw you last night?"

"Of course not!" Harry was starting to get annoyed.

"Well, give it time. You may find yourself tempted at any time." Vim was wandering amongst the gold, picking up pieces and playing with them in her long fingers.

"Don't touch that, its mine?"

"So quick to feel that this gold is yours. You didn't know you were rich until this morning and you're already trying to keep me away." Harry quickly grabbed a hundred coins, shoved them in his pack, and went out. Vim followed and said, "This is all quite interesting here. I never knew about these goblins up in the shinigami world. I wonder if the DeathNote works on them? Could you try one?"

"Shut up." Griphook gave Harry an odd look for his outburst but just shrugged it off. When Harry made his way back to the Gringotts lobby, he saw Dumbledore talking to a man, or what at least _looked _like a man. He was about 3 meters tall, and looked to be about 300 kilos. He had a massive beard and was laughing at something Dumbledore was saying, after handing Dumbledore a small package.

"So this must be Harry!" The massive man said as he saw him approach. "It's wonderful to meet you! Names Rubeus Hagrid!" Hagrid lifted Harry into the air with every handshake.

"Harry, this is the gamekeeper of Hogwarts. I hope you will not mind, but as he was already on business here for me today, I have offered to have him shop with us." Dumbledore did seem to actually be asking if Harry was ok with it.

"Sure, its fine with me." Hagrid beamed at him.

They spent the next few hours going around to get Harry's list of school supplies completed, but Harry managed to get a few extra things. Hagrid loved spending time with Harry. He was a constant joker, and Harry warmed up to him quickly. In the shops he made it difficult to get around, but he definitely made an easier path on the street with people clearing the way for him. Hagrid decided to get Harry an owl as an "early birthday present". Harry tried to pay him for it, now that he had more than enough money, but Hagrid insisted. It was a beautiful snowy owl, which cooed when he petted her.

By mid-afternoon, Dumbledore left to discuss something with a red haired man, which left Harry and Hagrid alone to shop for some extra things. He managed to find a book on the history of dark magic. This got a strange look from Hagrid, but he felt that it might have some information on the DeathNote. He also found a quill that never ran out of ink, a record player, and some records of wizard rock bands. Harry had always been a fan of British rock, but had never been allowed to put on the kind of music he liked. It was amazing to see the strange disconnect between Wizard technology. They didn't seem to have any electricity, but they still had radios and records, possibly running on pure magical energy. Hagrid was a great help in carrying everything. Getting his wand was an especially odd experience, especially with Vim picking up things, making the shopkeeper think the wands were going haywire. Eventually he found a holly wand with a phoenix feather core that worked for him. The shopkeep, Mr. Ollivander, seemed to revel in telling him that the wand was a pair to the wand of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He was left confused, but made sure to ask Dumbledore later.

Back at the leaky cauldron, Dumbledore was still talking to the red haired man, who had been joined by a red haired woman and a tall African man.

"Harry, come over here." Dumbledore beckoned when he saw them. Hagrid kept off the people interested in shaking Harry's hand so he could go over to the group. "I would like you to meet Arthur and Molly Weasley, and Mr. Kingsley Shacklebolt. They have accepted my request to have you stay at their home for the remainder of the Summer, and take you to the train to Hogwarts when the time comes."

"We are so excited to have you with us." The woman Molly was full of smiles. "I am so sorry to hear about your family, but we will make sure you are taken care of. We have a son your age, and I'm sure you'll hit it off."

"It's wonderful to meet you Harry Potter!" Arthur Weasley shook his hand very loosely, as if in reverence. "I hear that your family were muggles? I'm sure you'll be able to tell me all about them at our house."

"So how does that sound Harry? I will be assigning Mr. Shacklebolt here as your guard. He is an Auror, and one of the very best." Dumbledore said, looking very proud. "He was one of my best students."

"Very pleased to meet you Mr. Potter." Mr. Shacklebolt seemed a kind, but very professional sort of man.

"It sounds great." Harry was very interested in getting the chance to live with a wizard family. "I'll just need a few minutes to arrange my things."

The group of wizards left Harry alone in the room he had been in last night to organize his new possessions. It had been the best day of Harry's life, and it wasn't over yet.

"So are you interested in living with these people?" Vim said. "I hope they have some apples…"

"Of course I'm interested. A real wizarding family."

"Full of people watching you everyday, possibly finding the notebook, noticing something I do. Get you revealed…"

It felt like a cold rag was rung over his head.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Or what? It's not like you can hurt me little boy." Vim was right up in Harry's face now. "Perhaps if you make a deal with me, I can promise to help you stay safe and out of prison"

"What kind of deal?" Vim got close enough that he saw his face reflected in the shinigami's eyes.

"_I'd like you to kill someone for me."_


	4. Killing for a God

Killing for a God

"_I want you to kill someone for me"_

"You're insane." Harry said while getting the rest of his things together. Vim was hovering behind Harry as he walked out of the room. There was nothing this thing could do to convince him to use that notebook again.

"I haven't known any of my kind to go 'insane' as you say. It's not like I'm asking you to kill someone you know. I just was about to kill someone when I lost my DeathNote, and its been bugging me that I never got around to it."

"Well then I guess you'll just have to do your best to get me arrested. I'm a smart kid, even if Dudley tore up all my textbooks. The Dursleys loved keeping me at the library so they wouldn't have to deal with me for hours at a time. I'm _sure_ I can find a way to make sure that a ghost that no one can see or hear but me fails to rat me out."

As they made their way back to the pub, Harry was all set to meet this new family he would be staying with, and wondered what it would be like. Of course he had seen other families at school functions, or read about them, but to actually _live _with one that wouldn't try to harm him (he hoped) would be completely new.

"Come on, you'd be doing me a huge favor here. I would look like such a fool in front of the other death gods if I let a human go."

"So gods of death tease each other? That doesn't seem right for some reason."

"You could just lend me a page. I promise I won't write your name on it." Vim said while holding up a hand in mock salute.

"Well now you're never getting this thing back. Have you ever had to lie before?"

"Not really. That's a low level offense in my world. Gambling is a big deal there. No cheating allowed."

They were just getting to the top of the stairs when Harry suddenly felt the floor fall out from under him. He crashed down the stairs and when the world stopped spinning he felt a terrible pain in his arm. All of Dumbledore's group rushed over to him to check on what had happened, and Dumbledore whipped out his wand and began running it over Harry.

"Thankfully nothing broken, but you have got to be more careful Harry. It's not everyday that you'll have me around to fix you up." As Dumbledore proceeded to say a string of what appeared to be magic spells, producing lights that filled Harry with warmth and killed his pain, Harry looked back up the stairs. Vim was floating there holding up the rug that had been under Harry's feet. He seethed with anger, and almost yelled out a swear at the shinigami, but kept his mind. He would have words for the creature later.

"Oh I'm so sorry Harry." Mrs. Weasley was cradling his head. "These things happen, but a big meal is always helpful for getting over an injury and a long day. Up we go, that's it. You're already looking better." Harry stood up and shook the dust off his clothes. The barkeep Tom was making a thousand apologies but Harry waved him off and said he was fine. The Weasleys, Shacklebolt, and Harry said their goodbyes to Dumbledore and Hagrid, and explained to Harry how to travel through the Floo Network. By now Harry was simply getting excited to see something so cool, and stepped through the green flames. Perhaps he'd have a few hours without the death god before it found the Weasley's house.

As he stepped through, he was confronted with a half dozen crackers exploding confetti all over him and a loud "**Welcome to the Burrow, Harry!**" In front of him were 6 red haired people of varying heights, 5 boys and 1 girl. The girl was very young, even younger than harry. There was one boy that looked around Harry's age, a pair of twins a little older, and two older boys that looked to be high school aged, one with a lot of scars, the other much more prim and proper. They all rushed him after he got his balance back, and they welcomed their mother and father into the house.

"So Harry," began Mr. Weasley, "let me introduce you to the Weasley clan. There's Ginny, and Ron. Fred and George, the twins. Percy, and Charlie. Sadly Bill has been stuck at work so he couldn't come home to see you, but I'm sure he'll want to come and meet you as soon as possible.

"Welcome to our home Harry Potter." The twins said in unison as they grabbed both of his hands. "So what was it like to kill You-Know-Who?"

"Fred and George Weasley!" Their mother shouted at them. "He does not want to be accosted with that the moment he comes into the house. Ron, show him to your room. You'll be sleeping there, Harry." The twins seemed to pout that their younger brother got the famous boy, but Ron seemed just embarrassed by the whole thing.

"This way." Ron mumbled leading him towards the stairs. The brothers all grabbed Harry's stuff and followed them up the stairs, straight up to the attic. As they climbed Harry saw that the house was full of wonderfully comforting things like fluffy chairs, food stores, candles, and homemade crafts, as well as 7 floors of rooms. It made sense for the incredibly large family to have such a big house, but it seemed impossibly structured, even from the inside, as there wasn't a single support beam in the house. _Another oddity of magic I assume_, thought Harry as they made it to Ron's, and Harry's, bedroom.

"Well this is it." Ron said a bit embarrassed by the drab room, but Harry didn't care.

"It's fantastic!" Harry said looking at all of the wizarding gear. There was a poster showing people on broomsticks flying around. Ron had set up a clay chess set on a table and the little pieces were wrestling or sword fighting with each other. He even had a small collection of records, but there wasn't a player in his room. "I just bought a record player this afternoon, so we can play some of those if you like."

"How did you afford one on your own?" Ron asked jealously. "They cost like 3 galleons! We only have the one in the living room."

"Is that a lot? No one really explained how much money people have here. There was just a lot in my vault."

Ron looked embarrassed at the assumption that his family was poor, and spent the next half hour going over his favorite record, a rather rough and loud band called _Toil and Trouble_. He really warmed up to Harry and seemed a lot happier now that Harry was staying in his room. Every once in a while there was a loud groan from the ghoul the Weasleys had in the attic, but they were mostly uninterrupted until dinner. Mrs. Weasley screamed up for everyone to come downstairs, and Harry was just about to step down when he felt the world spinning again. Tumbling down the second flight of stairs in one day, he felt a serious pain in his skull when he landed on the landing of the 5th floor.

The Weasleys rushed to his aid, propping him up and acting highly concerned. The twins made a big joke out of it, but as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had seen the first incident, they made a bigger fuss. Harry got his head together after a draft of some foul smelling drink was forced down his throat, and he saw Vim hovering over the group, smiling. That smile simply screamed, "_How many times does this have to happen before you get the hint."_

Harry made a quick excuse that he just wanted to get some fresh air, and left the Burrow to walk through the fields by twilight. Expecting this, Vim followed Harry, chuckling quietly. Thankfully Shacklebolt was giving Harry a bit of distance and stayed by the Burrow's front door, so Harry could whisper with Vim and not be noticed.

"So is this what's going on now Vim? You wanted this person dead so badly that you're willing to kill me?"

"Heh Heh. No, not kill you Harry. Never kill you. Only maim. Or…seriously injure. I would be killed if I ever killed another human without a DeathNote."

Harry thought about this as quick as he dared. He knew he couldn't take too long out of the house or the Weasleys would worry. And if he didn't do as this monster wished, he risked serious injury. He was worried he might have gotten a concussion from that last fall, and the next one might start breaking bones, or worse…

"So who is this person you want me to kill?"

Vim seemed very excited to hear that. "Oh so you'll actually do it! Oh this is great! I knew you could be reasoned with."

"I never said I would do it. I just wanted to know if I knew them or not."

"There's no way you'd know them. Their name is…" The shinigami thought about it for a second. "Oh yes, Lucius Malfoy." The shinigami pulled a small mirror like device from a pouch on her belt, and showed it to Harry. It showed a man in his late 30s, with silver–blond hair, and a sneering face. "I think he lives somewhere in England, but I'm not sure. It could be anywhere in Europe for all I know."

The act felt a lot more despicable now that he had seen the man's face. It was one thing to write a name down, but now he had a real human to connect to that name. "Why did you show me that. I don't want to know anything about this person." Harry was quickly realizing how he had essentially accepted his task of executioner before he saw that image.

"You need to know what a person looks like before you write their name in a DeathNote. Otherwise you would have killed every person with that name, and we can't have that happening, can we." Vim was glad to see things going as well as they were.

"Give me a day to think about this. I need to go into dinner now, or they'll expect something."

"Allright, but don't make me wait too long. I may just get," Vim made a slashing motion across her throat, "impatient."

Harry spent the evening and next day happier than he could have ever expected, but weighed down by what he would have to do to keep this up. Mr. Weasley was a very kind man who clearly loved all of his children, but was very obsessed with his work and asked Harry dozens of questions about muggle life. The twins were fun, but in a way that seemed to strengthen their connection to each other more than to others. Ron was a great person to have around, and Harry felt like he was making his first real friend. Percy never made much interest in him, but Charley treated him just like a little brother, and told him a lot of amazing stories about Dragon training in Romania, even offering to take Harry and Ron out there next summer if they were interested. Ginny was very embarrassed to be around the famous Harry Potter, but by lunchtime the next day she was getting used to having him around the house and spent as much time as she could around Harry, which annoyed Ron immensely.

"Why can't you just leave us alone Ginny. Go play with your dolls or whatever girls do."

"That's just what I'd expect from you Ronald Weasley. Sexist and self absorbed. Harry doesn't mind, does he?" She turned towards him and smiled widely.

"No I don't mind, I love being with everyone in your family."

"Even Percy?" Ron asked with a smirk.

"Well maybe not Percy." Harry admitted.

Ginny cut in saying, "Fred and George told me that they think Mum must have drunk a Potion of Never-Ending Boredom when she was pregnant with him." Harry and Ron had a good laugh about that, and Harry excused himself to go and talk to Vim.

"So you've decided to do it then?" Harry stared at the lizard like god of death. He was getting used to seeing this creature now, even after only a couple of days. He could stand his ground here and accept what had to be done. Anything was worth getting to stay safe in the wizarding world, especially just some random person he would never meet.

"You promise to let me live my life the way I want to if I do this for you? Just let me use or not use the note if I feel like it?"

"Absolutely. If I ever try anything fiendish again, it would only be at your command. I may be a bit scary, but I'm just a lazy ass most of the time. If you do this, I'll be able to just sleep and eat, and maybe chat a bit if you're interested. After all, I like learning about this wizarding world of yours. I'd prefer not to leave too soon now that I'm here." Vim seemed genuinely interested, and held out the mirror again so Harry could look on the face of the man he would kill.

Without another moment of introspection, Harry pulled the DeathNote from his robe pocket, quickly wrote in the name Lucius Malfoy, looked at the simple pen strokes for a moment, and closed the notebook.

"There, It's done."

"Not quite." Vim said, holding up a long finger. "It takes 40 seconds for a person to die. Because you didn't write any extra information, he will die from a heart attack in 3-2-1-0." The mirror went black at the count of 0, and Harry felt relieved that he wouldn't have to watch this man die. He left the now satisfied Shinigami an apple he had saved from lunch, and went back downstairs to spend more time with the Weasleys.

Over the next few days, Harry learned a lot about the wizarding world and Hogwarts. That there were 4 houses, and that all of the Weasleys had been in Gryffindor House. That there was over a million wizards and witches living in the UK and Ireland, and that the two muggle nations were united in the wizarding world. But the most interesting thing to Harry personally was that Voldemort was the same He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that Ollivander had mentioned. Over dinner one night, Harry had been talking about Dumbledore and brought up the story he had been told about Voldemort, and the entire table reacted like a bomb had been lit at the table.

"Don't use that name in this house!" Mrs. Weasley had yelled. The twins god a good laugh out of seeing their mother upset, but even they looked pale at hearing the name. Realizing that the man who killed his parents, and shared a wand core with his, still inspired this much fear in people was oddly scary, but he didn't feel the need to change his ways.

Harry casually mentioned one day that his 11th birthday was coming up in a week, and the entire household made it their business to make the event as huge as possible. Plans were made to visit Diagon Alley again the day before his Birthday to pick up everyone's schoolbooks, and to give everyone a chance to get Harry a present. Harry was humble, but was very happy to see how much his new family cared for him. All the joy in the house was heightened for the Weasleys, but was crushed for Harry, when Mr. Weasley came home clutching a newspaper and with a huge smile on his face.

"Fantastic news everyone! Gather round!" The family gathered in at the dining table to hear the news. "It has just come to light that a certain Mr. Malfoy of whom has been a constant annoyance to my department, _died_ a few days ago." Harry's heart sunk, while the rest of the family tried to have their questions answered. Mr. Weasley pushed all of the questions away and explained.

"Now of course one shouldn't celebrate anyone's death, but Lucius Malfoy has finally been _exposed._" Mr. Weasley laid out the newspaper, displaying the headline _Lucius Malfoy Dead and Exposed: Death Eater Connection Confirmed by St. Mungo's Healer. _"After his heart attack, Malfoy's wife and son called in a healer to see if he'd been poisoned as fast as possible. The healer quickly surmised that he had died from strangely ordinary causes, and asked to investigate further to see what had been going on or what had been in his food. By pure chance, Malfoy had a decent amount of black magic devices simply lying about, and his family hadn't thought to put them away. Aurors were called, and after the past few days of investigations, documentation of his connection to You-Know-Who's supporters to this very day, and his widow is in custody at this very moment being questioned."

Harry was astounded at the news. Not only had the man he'd killed been a Wizard, he had been a supporter of the man who murdered his parents. After a few moments, he felt somewhat elated but disgusted, exactly like his discovery of his connection to the Dursley's deaths. Apparently Mr. Weasley had had a long feud with the Malfoy family over his pure blood supremacy and belittling of his work with muggles. There was a quick moment of silence before the excitement of the ongoing raid, and Mr. Weasley's chance to find anything connected to tampering with muggle artifacts in the home.

Harry wandered in a daze after the news. He confronted Vim and believed her when she said it was a freak coincidence. Stranger things have happened before… Now that Harry had killed another, he often felt the strange attraction to check the note and stare at the book. He didn't feel the compulsion to use it again, but simply the need to see it and make sure he wasn't dreaming. The night before they were to return to Diagon Alley, Harry was sitting in Ron and his room alone, looking at the note silently. He felt the need to scratch out the name written there, but knew that would do nothing. As he was about to put it away, Ron came into the room holding 2 letters.

"Hey Harry, we've got letters from Hogwarts. You better check this out. What is that you've got there? A Notebook?"


	5. Making Friends and Enemies

Harry tried to hide the DeathNote as fast as he could, but it was too late. Ron had seen it.

"Hey why are you trying to hide it? You can trust me Harry. I won't show mum if it's something you'd prefer she not see." Harry's mind was going mad trying to figure out how he would play this out. He hadn't considered what he could say to people who had found the DeathNote. He liked Ron a lot, but he still couldn't trust anyone with the information.

Harry blabbed out a hurried "I bought it in Diagon Alley before I came to your house. It's just a pretty creepy notebook is all." He showed him the book, mostly flipping onto blank pages. Occasionally one of the previous owner's notes would flash by. Harry let out an internal sigh that he had scratched out Lucius Malfoy's name before Ron came in, and made a mental note to get rid of the other pages as soon as he could.

Ron seemed a bit disappointed. "Oh, I thought it might have been some kind of joke item or something, you know, like what Fred and George are always pulling out. Why were you so worried when I walked in?" He grabbed the note and felt the odd cover. Harry felt an odd sensation when Ron touched the book, but couldn't place why.

"I just thought that it might be weirdly magical, and I didn't want to get in trouble for buying something off of a guy on the street. " The lies came more easily to Harry than he expected. " The guy was pretty filthy but it looked like a nice book, and it was only 2 knuts. It feels like proper leather, right?"

"I don't know Harry. This feels a bit too soft, like somewhere between skin and leather. I won't bring it up if you don't want me to, but it doesn't seem magic." He handed the notebook back to Harry, and pulled the two letters he had brought with him back out. "But back to what I had come here to say, check out this"

Harry took his letter, which read

Mr. H Potter

Top Floor Bedroom

The Burrow

Ottery St. Catchpole

Devonshire

Within, there was another letter from Hogwarts, which included a short message:

Dear Mr. Potter, we of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are proud to announce the introduction of entirely new courses to the already extraordinary curriculum of this fine establishment. This is, of course, a once in a generation event, as the last class to be added to the curriculum was Muggle Studies approximately 100 years ago. Headmaster Dumbledore has seen fit to include courses that will allow students a wider variety of skills to learn, and to enable better preparation for potential careers in the future. Thus, we are proud to announce the creation of

Magical Engineering, taught by Henry Whitehorn. This course will cover the creation of broomsticks, other assorted transportation devices, and will encourage experimentation and invention. Available to Third Years and up.

Magical Games, taught by Carodoc Selwyn. This course will allow Hogwarts students some much needed physical activity, as well as education on a wide variety of games, and game design in the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. levels. Available to all years.

Study of Magical Books, taught by Christina Pince. This course will cover the history of magical books, methods for proper care, methods for the charming of books, and the proper disposal of dangerous tomes. Available to all years.

Following these announcements were a list of books required for each course, and instructions to return an owl with word that you intend to enroll in one of the new courses.

"How about that!" Ron said. "Now there's a course that I can get behind. Magical Games. Just playing chess and quidditch instead of writing essays and reading books."

Harry stared at the list again. _Magical Books, proper disposal of dangerous tomes._ _Maybe…_

" I think I'm going to join the Magical Books class." Harry said while reading the list of books he would need to purchase.

"Why? I never pegged you as the bookworm type Harry. You haven't even read anything since you got here. Anyway, I was talking to Fred and George about the new classes and they said that Professor Pince is probably related to the stodgy old librarian. Just join up with the games class! Then we'll get to hang out together, even if it still sucks." Harry was touched by this, and decided to sign up for both classes.

Harry suddenly felt a concern that he and Ron would end up in the same house at Hogwarts. He had heard about how everyone in the Weasley family had been in Gryffindor, as well as his parents, but he wasn't sure. He had never felt very brave, and he had become very well adapted to lying. He knew he was smarter than Dudley by a far amount, but he had never been a knowledge lover. He felt like he was a loyal person, but he had only really had the opportunity over this summer. This train of thought ended suddenly when Vim floated through a wall, and Ron started to scream.

"What the effing hell is that thing!" Ron reeled back and reached for the closest thing usable as a weapon, which ended up being a pillow. Vim looked confused.

"You can see me?"

"You can see her?" Harry was shocked. How had Ron seen the Shinigami? Vim had said no one else would be able to see her. Wait…

"He touched the notebook Vim. Does that mean anything to you?"

"You know this thing?" Ron was shivering now, and looked like he was about to run.

"Just calm down Ron. There's nothing to worry about." Harry turned to Vim. "Why didn't you tell me that someone would see you if they touched the note?"

"Hey, I'm not obligated to tell you anything beyond the basics. There are even DeathNote rules that _I _don't know. "

"You really are useless aren't you."

"Says the scrawny ass almost 11 year old."

"Hey! I'm only scrawny because my aunt and uncle _starved me. _I'm getting better now that I'm here."

"What is even going on here?!" Ron wasn't scared anymore. The oddly pedestrian bickering made the scene too surreal to be scary. "So this thing isn't dangerous? And what's this about that notebook?"

Harry was trapped. He felt like the only thing to do was to get Ron to keep the secret, at least most of the secret. He truly liked Ron, and he knew that Ron liked him, so he knew how he'd have to progress.

"Ron, I need you to keep a secret, as my friend." Hearing this brightened Ron up.

"Of course Harry. Just tell me what's going on."

"This is Vim. She's a shinigami. A magical creature that haunts the person with this notebook."

"Hello." Vim said smiling, revealing her sharp teeth, and causing Ron to clutch at the pillow again.

"So you picked up a dodgy notebook in Diagon Alley, got stuck with a creepy monster, and only you and I can see it?

"I resent the monster comment, for the record." Vim piped in. The indignation mixed with the rough vocals made for an interesting combination.

"Then why don't you just get rid of it? Just throw it in the trash?"

_Crap. Well, I'm definitely not a Ravenclaw_. Harry thought. _Now what…_

"Here's the thing, Ron. This book is dangerous, and I don't know how to get rid of it safely. I need to keep it with me so that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands."

"So what does it do?" Ron seemed really interested now. "Does it give you incredible power? I think there's a fairy tale about something like this."

"People die, usually by heart attack, when their names are written in the book." Vim threw this comment into the mix. Harry felt his heart skip several beats. _How am I going to fix this now? _Harry thought, dreading how Ron would respond.

" And so that's what happened to your family Harry?" Ron sounded quiet. Harry felt like it was all over, but Vim had forced him into this.

"Yes."

"Well good."

"What?!" Harry wasn't sure he had heard Ron correctly. "Did you say good?"

"Yes I did." Ron's voice was rising. "When you showed up Harry, we were all shocked. No one said anything because they wanted you to feel welcome, but you were skin and bones when you showed up here. Even after a week of mum's food you're probably only 70 pounds. We're the same age and I'm more than a foot taller than you. I know you try to hide it from me, but you've got more scars than just that lightning bolt on your forehead. Those muggles got what they deserved if you ask me."

Harry had never heard someone talk about him with such concern before, and felt the need to give Ron a quick one-armed hug.

"Thanks Ron. That means a lot. You deserve to know the whole story." Harry proceeded to tell Ron everything, from his childhood, Voldemort, finding the DeathNote, his aunt and uncle, deciding to keep the notebook, even Malfoy.

"It's lucky for you that you had Harry kill someone who worked for the man who murdered his parents you sick thing." Ron spat out at Vim. "You better watch out. Wizards aren't to be messed with." The shinigami ignored the red head, as she had decided to go to sleep.

"So you don't blame me for this?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Nope. Now I'm even surer that we'll be in Gryffindor together. It's incredibly brave to keep that god of death haunting you so that you can get rid of that thing eventually. No one should have that kind of power, especially something like Vim." It was hearing things like that that made Harry sure he had found a truly good friend in Ron Weasley.

Harry's birthday celebration was excellent. Everyone in the family got him a small gift. The best ones were definitely Ron's gift of several of Dr. Filibuster's Wet-Start, No-Heat Firework, and Charlie's gift of a miniature dragon that moved. Harry decided to take everyone out to a dinner in the nicest restaurant the where Weasley's shoddy clothing wouldn't be banned. Mr. Weasley tried to pay anyway, but Charlie interceded and made sure to let Harry be kind if he wished to. Everyone said it was the best meal they'd had in years, and even Mrs. Weasley relented after a bit of grumbling. Back at the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny made a magnificent cake for everyone in the shape of a lightning bolt, and Harry got to blow out his first birthday candles.

The next month passed in a blur. Charlie left for Romania soon after Harry's birthday, and got permission from his parents to have Harry and his siblings visit next summer. They managed to spend some time in the muggle village, despite Shacklebolt's intense disapproval, and Harry led Ron and Ginny into their first muggle arcade and film, but couldn't get into either. Ron convinced Harry to set off one of the filibuster's fireworks near a playground, terrifying a lot of the parents sitting around.

The only major news story that Harry noticed during august was that Narcissa Malfoy, Lucius' wife, had been arrested for her connection to the Death Eaters, and was in questioning to discover any others. The Daily Prophet ran many stories about the young son Draco, who would be joining Harry at Hogwarts.

By the end of the summer he couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts, and finally get to start learning Magic. Vim seemed excited as well, and expressed that by only sleeping 15 hours instead of 20 a day. The trip to King's Cross station was taken by floo powder to a building operated by the Hogwarts express for people to connect to on their way to the station. Shacklebolt had to check the street multiple times before they left, but they eventually made their way onto the busy London streets.

"Why can't we just floo to Hogwarts?" Harry asked. "It seems like a lot more effort to go by train."

"It's precautionary, Harry." Shacklebolt explained. "The Hogwarts Express is designed to make sure that nobody who hasn't been admitted to Hogwarts actually gets into the castle. I remember that in my second year, there was a student from America that tried to sneak on. He was apparently trying to sneak into the location of You-Know-Who's education. He's kind of a pop-icon in the States. They never had to suffer under him, and so it's all kind of a joke to the yanks."

Getting onto platform 9 ¾ was an exciting experience, with everyone running through the solid barrier. Ginny was starting to get more and more depressed as they neared leaving for school, as she would have to wait one more year to go. Harry had asked what she did the rest of the year, and it seemed painfully boring. Apparently there wasn't any standardized wizarding education until age 11, and so young wizards and witches were stuck at home. There was only one other girl Ginny's age in the wizarding community near their village, but she had been on holiday while Harry had been with the Weasleys.

"We'll send you loads of letters Ginny." Fred and George said, trying to cheer her up. "Yeah, and we'll make sure Harry sends you all the love letters you'd like." Mrs. Weasley yanked both of their ears for that, and Ginny punched them in the gut.

"Like you two knuckleheads know anything. Harry and I are just friends, and we're hardly old enough anyway. Idiots…" She still looked very embarrassed and wouldn't look at Harry, which made Harry feel uncertain.

"Look over there" Ron said, pointing at a young man being dragged along by a very rough looking woman in her 40s. He looked to be 11, very pale, and with white-blond hair. Behind them was a very beautiful woman around 18 or 19 with bubblegum pink hair. "It looks like Malfoy isn't very happy with who he's stuck with now." The boy looked over at Harry and scowled. The look went beyond ordinary dislike. This look said "I hate Harry Potter and would do anything to make him suffer."

Mr. Weasley asked, "Who is it dear? She looks a little familiar."

"That's Andromeda Tonks, Arthur! We went to school with her! It's been nearly 20 years!" Mrs. Weasley rushed over to talk to Mrs. Tonks, who greeted Mrs. Weasley politely but with nowhere near the intensity that Mrs. Weasley expressed. She seemed very worn out. While the older women were talking the younger woman noticed their group, and walked directly towards Harry.

"Harry Potter! I thought that was you! My name is Tonks. Wonderful to meet you." She shook his hand very enthusiastically, and at the same time her pink hair changed into a shining golden-blond.

"Um, good to meet you too. Um, your hair…"

"Oh this silly thing. I must be really excited. I'm a metamorphmagus. I can change my appearance at will, and sometimes it runs amok. I guess my mom knows you guys." Tonks said while gesturing to the Weasleys.

"Yes, Andromeda went to Hogwarts with us. I'm Arthur Weasley, and that's my wife Molly. Harry has been staying with us since his aunt and uncle died."

"You're one of the interns at the office aren't you?" Shacklebolt cut in.

"Um, yes, I'm in training at the Auror office. I don't think we've met yet."

"Kingsley Shacklebolt. I've been positioned as Potter's guard until he gets on the train."

"Ah yes, I've heard the office gossip. Youngest Auror at 21. I'll have you beat if I can help it sir."

A loud whistle cut off the conversation, and they all had to rush to get on the train. Tonks yelled after them, quickly saying she hoped to see Harry again someday. The Weasleys took everyone's trunks to a baggage collector and they made their way inside the train at exactly 10:59 am. As the scarlet train began to puff away, Ginny and the Weasley Parents waved enthusiastically, until they were far off into the distance.

Ron and Harry then worked their way down the aisles until they could find a place to sit. As the last ones on the train there weren't any completely empty rooms. Ron was running down the hall when he accidentally ran down a girl walking out of a room with her nose in a very large book. They tumbled over and the girl was very annoyed.

"I'm so sorry! Let me help." He extended a hand to the girl to help her up, and she seemed better off than one could expect.

"No, it's my fault. I shouldn't walk and read, but that chapter was just so interesting." The girl was seemingly a first year as well, with majorly bushy brown hair that was cut to her shoulders, a small mouth, and was wearing a muggle t-shirt and jeans. "I was just going to look around the conductor's cabin, but I'll be back in a moment. Feel free to join me for the train ride. There's no one else with me yet. I'm Hermione Granger by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you."


	6. The Battle of the Hogwarts Express

The Battle of the Hogwarts Express

Ron and Harry settled into the train car they would be staying in for the 7 plus hour ride to Hogwarts and looked to see what their new travelling companion had already brought with her. The compartment had about 17 books of various sizes. Most seemed to be textbooks, but there were a few muggle books that Harry recognized like _War and Peace,_ _The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, _and _The Hobbit. _

"She's a real brain, isn't she?" Ron said while looking around for a place to sit. He moved aside a few books and stretched his feet out. "Probably won't be seeing her too much after this train ride."

"Why do you say that?" Harry wasn't sure about the intensity of the book obsession this Hermione girl seemed to have, but she seemed very polite so far.

"She'll have the sorting hat on her head for all of 1 second before it plops her in Ravenclaw, you'll see. Me? I could never stand the type. Percy always seemed the type to end up in Ravenclaw but got into Gryffindor on some fluke. And you know him…"

"What does her being in Ravenclaw have to do with not seeing her? Do your brother's never talk to people who aren't in their house?"

"Well yeah, a bit. Some classes have more than one house in them at a time, but its just a factor of where you live. Each house has their own common room that no one else knows about. Kind of hurts the ability to socialize, ya know?"

Harry sincerely hoped he did end up in Gryffindor now. He felt that he would make the effort to meet people anywhere he ended up, and he didn't think Ron would actively avoid him if they ended up in different houses, but the prospect scared him all the same. _I don't want to be alone again._ He thought, but pushed it aside to enjoy the ride. Hermione came back after 10 minutes, still reading, but set it down to talk.

"I'm really sorry again. I forgot to even ask your names."

"Ron Weasley"

"Harry Potter"

"I've read about you two!"

"Two?" Ron looked like he must have misheard her.

"Of course!" Hermione pulled out a newspaper she had rolled up in a large purple purse she had on a seat, and began to read.

_Leaving from his foster home at the home of Arthur and Molly Weasley, the Boy-Who-Lived Harry Potter, age 11, will be travelling to Hogwarts for the first time. The wizarding community is very glad that no ill events have befallen this heroic boy since the second tragic loss of his family members in his short life, and to accept him into the wider wizarding world. Accompanying Mr. Potter will be 4 of the Weasley children, Percy (age 15), Fred and George (age 13) and Ronald (age 11). For those in Hogsmeade, this may be a once in a lifetime chance to see the boy who lived arrive in your station._

"Well there you go. I've been reading the wizard papers ever since I found out there is one. I want to learn as much as I can about the wizarding world."

"So you came from a muggle family too?" Harry asked. It might be nice to know someone who could relate to the strangeness of the wizarding world.

"Yes. It's so wonderful isn't it! You've had more of a chance to experience it first hand this past month, but now things are going to get really exciting. How are you…" Hermione rattled on for another 10 minutes without giving either them much of a word edgewise, but she made sure to get to know Ron and Harry as well. By lunchtime they were finally exhausted by Hermione's conversation, and Ron challenged her to a game of chess just to change things up. He pulled out his old family board with the moving pieces, and they began their game. Given a dozen moves Ron was able to checkmate Hermione. The look of shock on her face gave Ron a huge grin.

"How did you do that?" She stared at the board trying to see where she had gone wrong. "I played with my friends all the time back home."

"You just have to be able to think more than 2 steps ahead. I saw how you were playing. You looked around the board to see where safe locations to move to were, but you didn't think about where I would move next."

"We're playing again." Hermione was feverishly collecting the broken pieces to begin a new game.

2 hours paced in this way, and the longest Hermione lasted was 30 moves before the checkmate came, but she was picking up on some of the maneuvers. Harry had tried to beat Ron a dozen times over the summer and had long since given up. Ron wasn't the bookish type, but when it came to playing chess no one he knew could beat him, except for the grandfather that had taught him. Ron didn't think very highly of the skill, but Harry really admired his strategic skill.

"You really are good. Are you taking the Magical games course? I took every class available just because it was available but I'm sure you must have signed up for that one, being as good as this as you are."

"Yeah, me and Harry are both taking the class. He's also taking the books class. I'm sure you two will have a grand old time there. So, what should we do now?"

**BOOM. **

At that moment the entire train was rocked by what felt a massive explosion. **BOOM**. Another enormous sound and Harry could feel himself falling onto his side as the entire train began to fall. The train fell completely on its side, but the window's didn't shatter. The train rumbled randomly as it bounced along at high speed, and Harry felt like he was thrown back and forth between the roof and floor. After about a minute, the train came to a halt.

"Ron are you ok?" No answer. Harry's head felt incredibly clouded. Putting his hand on his temple, Harry felt the slickness of blood. "Hermione?"

"I'm here Harry." Hermione called to him, trying to move the books out of the way. "I think Ron's been knocked out. He fell all the way across the compartment." Harry could see That Hermione and Ron at least weren't bleeding, but that the entire car had been left on its side, and the only light was a small amount from a window from the other side of the train.

"We need to get him out of here. We must have hit something." Harry grabbed Ron under his armpits, but couldn't manage to lift him. He was still a rather weak child. Harry started to hear a large amount of screaming and people walking on the still closed door of their compartment. Harry tried to open their compartment door, but there were too many people pressing down on it. There was even a bit of a blood splatter on the door.

"We're stuck in here Harry. Come over here, you need to get something on your head." Hermione took out a gauze bandage she had in her purse and wrapped it around his head. It wasn't very effective, but stopping some of the blood flow was better than nothing.

"What even happened? How does a magic train derail?" Harry sat down on the window, trying to clear his head. Given a few minutes of sitting, he started to feel the bruises that covered his body.

"I don't know. I was reading about the Hogwarts Express in _Hogwarts, A History_. It's charmed to keep all of the students safe. It shouldn't be able to derail unless someone used a _curse_ to remove the charm." It was at that moment that Vim popped her head in through the floor.

"So what's going on here Harry? I nod off when you're getting into this train, I follow you, and suddenly everything's gone mad." Vim turned towards Hermione and said, "And who's this? She wasn't with you an hour ago."

"Vim. You need to go outside and tell me what's going on."

"Hmmm? Well, ok. I do owe you for killing that Malfoy guy for me. Just give me a second."

"Who are you talking to Harry? We can't get outside yet. Just wait." Hermione walked over and put her hand on his head. "Are you feeling ok?"

"It's ok Hermione. Just…thinking aloud." Harry had to be careful here, but he needed to figure out what had happened. After another minute the steps above them began to slow down, and Vim came back into the room.

"It seems like a dozen guys in black robes and skull masks are fighting people out there. Any clue?" Harry recalled pictures in one of the modern history books he had bought, and knew exactly what was going on.

"Death Eaters." Harry spat out.

"What?" Hermione was still confused about what was going on.

"Death Eaters, Hermione. Voldemort's followers."

"I read about them!" Understanding seemed to glow from behind her eyes. "But how do you know?"

"I could hear someone faintly from above us." He quickly lied. They were saying that men in skull masks were attacking."

"They must be here for you!"

"What?" Now it was Harry's turn to be surprised. "Why do you think that?"

"Well isn't it obvious?"

"Apparently not."

"Well, you killed their mentor, right? And over the summer one of the free death eaters and his wife were exposed, right? The Malfoys?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"So now none of them are safe. It's only a matter of time before the wife gives up the names. Any mother would do that to get back to her son."

"So what's the plan? If they're here to get me before the Ministry can find them, what should we do?"

"_How about shut up and come with me?_" A masked face reached down through the compartment door, pointed a wand at Harry, and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!" Harry's entire body seized up instantly. Hermione whipped out her wand and shouted "Incendio!" A burst of flame sprouted from her wand, lighting the man on fire. He quickly flung himself away from the door, but another wand pointed down and yelled "Stupefy!" A red beam struck Hermione in the chest, and she was out cold. Another Death Eater came down into the compartment and grabbed Harry, throwing him up into the hallway. Harry tried to scream but every muscle in his body was paralyzed. As he got one last look into the train compartment, he saw that lying amongst Hermione's books was the DeathNote, just lying there.

Once they carried him outside, he could see that the train had skidded about 100 feet from the tracks. They had only been travelling for a half an hour before the attack, but the landscape seemed thoroughly rural. Hundreds of students were standing aimlessly while what looked to be an assortment of adults and teenagers blasting magical spells at other death eaters, most of them flying on broomsticks. The Death Eater holding Harry shot up a shower of green sparks, and the other death eaters converged on their location. Before they could do anything else, three figures barreled over the Death Eater carrying Harry, and they fell off the train with a thud.

Harry had one eye left not squashed against the ground, and could see that three girls about 13 years old had ridden their own broomsticks into the Death Eater, and were currently dodging blasts of green and yellow light. Several adults rushed towards Harry and began to put him in an upright position. One spoke an indecipherable word in a heavy Irish accent, and Harry could suddenly move his limbs again.

"We've got to get in the train! My friends are still in there!"

"Relax Mr. Potter. The situation is under control." Those were the last words this wizard would say, as a green bolt hit him square in the face. Harry bunkered down as more complicated spell work was layered upon the existing shields, but the students rallied and the death eaters were pushed back. Even if all of your enemies are 15-17, 200 of them together make for impossible odds. After about 20 minutes the remaining 6 death eaters flew off while the survivors took stock of the battle.

There were random fires in the grass, and several odd curses still being handled. Several people looked to have grown random limbs, while several people looked as if they had been turned into an animal and were just now being reverted by other wizards. The adults, which Harry quickly realized were mostly Aurors assigned to the train, were rounding up the mostly unconscious bodies of the 6 defeated death eaters, and binding them in magical ropes. 2 of the men were incredibly burly, and looked to have been bludgeoned into unconsciousness based on the large bruises on their faces. The only conscious one left was a scrawny man who screaming obscenities at everyone there until an auror conjured a load of socks to gag him. The other three included a woman in her late 30s, a teenaged boy, and a man in his mid 50s with graying hair.

Harry was led over to a healer to see about his injuries, but quickly dealt with him to return to the more serious injuries. Harry sat still under guard, feverishly waiting for his chance to find Ron again. And Hermione. She had tried to save him, and now he had no idea how injured she'd become. After another 10 minutes, the reinforcements arrived, lead by professor Dumbledore himself. Harry saw him teleport into their midst, and cast a charm on himself to amplify his voice a hundred fold.

"**Attention everyone! Please stay calm. This is Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts. We have brought the best healers and wandworkers at our disposal to help settle this matter. Please find your way to one of the red arrows I shall conjure to find a healer if you need assistance. Please clear the tracks, as I shall be resettling the train there momentarily.**"

Professor Dumbledore waved his wand to direct the students, and then led a group within the train. After another half hour of watching student after student leave and be reunited with their friends, Ron and Hermione eventually made their way out. Hermione ran up to harry and gave him a huge hug. He was nearly knocked over completely as she seemingly gathered most of her books into a huge backpack.

"Oh I'm so glad you're safe! I was sure they were going to take you."

As soon as these last people had made their way out, Dumbledore lifted the train back into position. The magic that was protecting the train must have been amazingly strong, as the only damage seems to have been done to the tracks, which had been melted and torn apart at the point of derailment. After he was done, Dumbledore came directly over to Harry.

"I am so sorry Harry. This is all my fault. I should have been more prepared, but I never expected them to attack after 10 years. Here, grab my arm. We're leaving."

"Where are we going professor?"

"To Hogwarts, of course. I can't have you here any longer. I thought you were safe under the protection of these aurors once, I won't let them fail again."

Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione, still battered by their recent wounds, barely returned to him after nearly being kidnapped.

"Can you take my friends too, Professor? I'd be calmer knowing that they were safe too." Dumbledore looked slightly surprised for a moment, but quickly extended both arms to the three children. A moment after they grabbed his sleeves, it felt like they were being squeezed into a small tube. Harry felt that this was even more unpleasant than the portkey, and was glad that it ended quickly.

Harry stood before a breathtaking sight. There was a massive stone archway that covered a thick iron gate, but in the distance stood a true medieval castle. It looked like the highest towers went up hundreds of feet, and it seemed to have more than a dozen reaching for the heavens. The grass sloped up to meet the castle and between them and the front door Harry could see a massive serene lake. He looked to his side and Ron and Hermione were equally awestruck. For all of his siblings, Ron had never gone to the school himself, as there were very few public school events in the years since he had become old enough to go.

"Come along children. We must get inside." Dumbledore waved his wand and the massive gates opened for them to pass.

"Why couldn't we just apparate into Hogwarts?" Ron asked "I mean we already got this close."

"Because there's an enchantment Ron." Hermione said, cutting off the professor's attempt to speak. "No one can apparate, bodily floo powder, or portkey into the grounds of Hogwarts without the approval of the Headmaster. Even then it takes concentration and time to turn the enchantment off for that moment."

"Very good young lady. Quite right. But there was no need at this moment. Now that we are within the grounds, we are perfectly safe."

After gathering his friends names, Professor Dumbledore took Harry and the rest within the massive Great Hall immediately adjacent to the main hall, and summoned another professor, a very short man with a grey beard.

"This is Professor Flitwick. He is an excellent charms master, but I have no true worries. Hogwarts is the safest place in the world. I must be off again to the Express. I do not think there will be any other concerns, but I cannot allow my students any more worry as they make their way here. It is going to be a very long day. I will hopefully return by this evening for the sorting." Professor Flitwick did his best to make them comfortable, but being alone in the empty hall waiting was dreadful.

"So have any of you three thought about what house you will be in? I do hope to see some new Ravenclaws this year. In my time there were so many, but there's been a decrease in the last few years. I am the head of house Ravenclaw at Hogwarts."

"Hermione will be for sure professor," said Ron. "She's already read all of her course books twice." He gave her a crooked smile as he said it, which got a light punch from Hermione for his trouble.

"Not twice! Just once…" Hermione mumbled the last two words.

"Oh that's not a guarantee young man. The founder of my house, Rowena Ravenclaw, hated reading. The oft quoted remark she made was 'The scholars spend all of their time reading words. I would rather spend my time using them.' So you can see that it is in the use of knowledge and cleverness to achieve our ends that matters, Mr. Weasley, not just reading. Why, the ancient Greek wizard Socrates despised all writing, as he considered it an excuse to not remember anything."

"So I guess that means I shouldn't have to read your charms textbook, professor?" Ron gave a sheepish grin.

"Of course not my dear boy. You will of course be required to listen to an oral presentation of the entire text, just as the great Socrates would have preferred, but there is no pressure at all. I'm sure you are exactly the sort who just would love a ten-hour lecture per chapter of _The Standard Book of Spells_." Ron kept the wisecracks to himself until the rest of the students made their way into the great hall an hour later.

The majority of the students looked in good shape, but a generally morose attitude was over them. The Weasleys made their way over to Ron, while Percy helped corral the remaining Gryffindors.

"It was insane, wasn't it Fred?"

"Yeah. Did you two see what happened with the Malfoy brat?" George gestured to Ron and Harry as they walked over.

"No, what happened."

"Apparently the Death Eaters were trying to get him and you Harry."

"Yeah. " added Fred. "The aurors have been spreading the word. Apparently the ministry was about to start cracking down on the Death Eaters in hiding, with info from Malfoy's mum. They wanted revenge, and the best hostage they could think of, Harry Potter."

"You were right Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. "You are too good." She blushed quickly, and remembering what had happened on the train seemed to spark another thought in her.

"Oh, Harry, I had almost forgotten." She began to ruffle through her large bag. "I just couldn't leave my books in case someone wasn't careful with them when they were organizing the train. I noticed that you had dropped something when they grabbed you, just before I was stunned." Hermione found what she was looking for, and handed Harry the Death Note. _Not again…_

Harry thanked her, dreading the conversation that would inevitably come up now. Dumbledore brought everyone under control and explained the story that everyone essentially knew by this point. He proclaimed sadly two of the auror guards had died in the attack, named Peter Winthrop and Jaya Kumar. Thankfully, none of the student body was mortally wounded, but 3 students, Terry Boot, Oliver Wood, and Miles Bletchley were seriously injured and will be staying at St. Mungo's hospital until they are fully recovered, though they are expected to make a full recovery.

"But we are safe and sound, and on to the opening ceremonies. Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, if you could please organize the first years. It is time to begin the sorting!"

Everyone became very excited at Dumbledore's words, and a tall and stern looking witch joined Hagrid to organize the first years. Harry had had so much time to think about this moment that he was completely unsure what would happen. There was a part of every house in him, and so this event could go any way.

The sorting hat was brought out, it sung its song, and the sorting began. It was actually quite boring to watch, though as each student went up and placed the hat on their head and a name of a house was called out, the receiving house clapped and cheered to welcome them. The first person to go up that Harry knew was Hermione Granger, and it spent a reasonable amount of time determining her place in the school. She seemed to be resisting something, but eventually relented. The rip in the brim opened wide and let out a loud…

"**RAVENCLAW"**

"Figures." Ron said. "She was nice and all, but now we'll only see her in class. You just wait and see."

"She tried to save my life Ron. Do you expect me to just forget her if I don't end up in Ravenclaw too?"

"I know you'll do your best Harry, but it's just logical. It's like a chess match. If you have two pawns begin at opposite sides of the board, there's almost no way they'll ever meet. Yes, they'll work together for a common goal, but the chance you'll be moving diagonally every time is just something that never happens. Starting positions matter if you want to connect people."

Now that Hermione had touched the Death Note, it was going to be that much harder to keep her quiet if they weren't living near one another. He knew he'd need to talk to her as fast as he could before she saw Vim and started acting like a mad woman. Eventually Harry's turn came up, and he had to face the final decision.

Harry sat down, and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head. Within a moment, a voice quite a bit more sarcastic than the loud announcing voice spoke inside his mind.

"So, they've brought a _murderer_ to Hogwarts this year. _Four_ murders, even. Well, well, well. Where to put someone like _you…"_


	7. How to Sort a Murderer

How to Sort a Murderer

"It's been quite awhile since a _killer_ came to Hogwarts in their first year." The sorting hat whispered these words into Harry's mind with a sneer.

"How do you know that? Can you read my mind in every detail? I thought you just figured a general personality profile. I've read about the Myers-Briggs test. I assumed this was something like that."

"Not even concerned?" The hat's voice seemed disappointed. "I expected you to worry more than that. You sound so technical."

"You're the one reading my mind, you should be able to figure out how I think."

"So, a cocky child too. So where to put you… Well Slytherin seems to be the place one would expect for a child like you. I sense great power in you. Very few murderers come out of the other 3 houses…."

"Not Slytherin!"

"Not Slytherin, eh? Well perhaps you're right… You have almost no ambition. I see a great skill in lies and cunning within you, but without the drive to use it one will never be a great Slytherin. But then what else is available…"

"Gryffindor?"

"Hmmmm, well perhaps… Then again you're quite a bit of a coward…"

"I am not! I'm keeping the DeathNote until I can find a way to destroy it! I'm doing everything I can to protect people!"

"HA!" The Sorting Hat's laugh sounded like two bits of cloth rubbing against each other. "That proves you aren't made for Gryffindor house! No Gryffindor would try to argue about _why_ they are brave enough! If Godric was in your situation he would have done something idiotic, like tell the headmaster the moment he learned what he had, sacrificing himself for _the greater good. _Instead you're making a logical argument! And you're working to gather _information_ so that you can _personally_ prove your skill. Ah, I see now where a boy like you needs to go… All those years spent alone as a child in libraries did something to you it seems. You're smart. You've kept yourself hidden better than any other 11 year old would, and I see a skill in magical dueling unlike any in a decade! It's not often that I find someone so split between the houses, but it better be…"

"**RAVENCLAW"**

After the grueling experience of the internal conflict, the final word rang out. He slipped the hat off of his head and saw the distraught face of Ron while also seeing the beaming crooked smile of Hermione. There were some cries of anguish from the other Weasleys, especially the twins. The Ravenclaws were surprisingly ecstatic, despite their reputation. A tall boy was leading a group in a house chant. He went over and sat near Hermione, and a young chinese girl who gave him a quick congratulations before turning back to the sorting. There were only a few students to go after Harry, before it was finally Ron's turn. Everyone was certain that this Weasley would end up exactly the same as his brothers, but the crowd was given a major surprise.

"**RAVENCLAW**"

"WHAT!" The collective shock in the room was only supplanted by Ron's face, which had gone even redder than his hair.

"There's a mistake!" Fred and George were yelling loudly for a resorting, but it was final. The sorting hat's decision couldn't be changed. Harry was so happy to hear his friend would be staying with him, and was the loudest Ravenclaw to cheer. Still, he was as surprised as anyone. He hadn't thought of himself as much of a Ravenclaw before hearing the hat's argument, but Ron?

"How did Ron get in? I would never have guessed it." Harry asked Hermione as Ron sheepishly made his way through the crowd.

"Really? I never expected anything else."

"Why do you say that?"

"Anyone who can play chess like that deserves to be in Ravenclaw more than any other house." And with that statement Ron sat amongst his new housemates, and the feast began. The trio met a number of students around them. There was Cho Chang, a second year who was the girl who had said congratulations to Harry when he came to the table. The Ravenclaw prefects Penelope Clearwater and Robert Hilliard made their way to every first year student to welcome them, and they seemed pleasant enough. Nearby there was a very loud and obnoxious boy named Roger Davies that was trying to brag to everyone around him that he had gotten top seats for the Quidditch World Cup last summer, and that he had kissed a dozen foreign girls while he was there.

The feast was absolutely incredible, and Harry had to stop himself from getting too stuffed, but eventually the seemingly endless courses ended. Dumbledore made his way to a podium and spoke a little before bed.

"A wonderful feast as always, but I do have a few quick announcements. First, as you have all been made aware, we are happy to have introduced three new classes to Hogwarts. May I introduce Christina Pince, our new Professor of the Study of Magical Books." He gestured to a stunningly beautiful young witch with straight red hair, violet robes, and a warm smile. "Henry Whitehorn, Professor of Magical Engineering." Now stood a man in his mid 40s with a large mustache. "And Carodoc Selwyn, our Professor of Magical Games who has left his position in the Department of Magical Games and Sports to teach at our illustrious school." Professor Selwyn was an athletic man with a large forehead and thick jawline.

"Also, we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year, Professor Quirrel." A shaky man in a purple turban stood and gave a halfhearted wave. When he looked towards Harry, he felt a strange burning sensation in his head near his scar, but didn't make a big deal out of it. He was having too great of a time to worry, and it passed quickly.

"And finally, I must make a special warning. Do not go to the third floor corridor on the right hand side. I thought I would make a joke here about avoiding it if you do not want a 'most painful death', but professor McGonagall thought that imprudent. So, just to be clear, **DO NOT GO THERE OR YOU WILL DIE." **Have a good night!" And he smiled toothily.

The Ravenclaw first years were led up the stairs a long way, past dozens of moving staircases, living paintings, and even through a few secret passageways. They arrived at the top of one of the castle's towers and came to a doorway without a keyhole or handle, but a bronze knocker in the center shaped like an eagle. When Penelope went to the knocker, it came alive and began to speak.

"What starts with an e, but only has a single letter in it?"

"An envelope." Penelope turned to the first years and said, "every time you enter Ravenclaw tower, you will be required to answer a short riddle. Only one of you need know the correct answer to enter, but if you answer wrong, you'll be stuck until someone else comes along."

"Then I'm doomed." Said Ron sulkily. "The hat said it had never seen a mind like mine, but I've never solved a riddle in my life…"

"Correct. Welcome to Ravenclaw Tower first years." The bronze eagle welcomed them in as the large door swung in. The Ravenclaw common room was incredibly spacious and immaculate. The central room was large and circular, with tapestries covered in decorative stars and crescents. There was a large roaring fireplace at the far end of the circle, and in the center of the room stood a statue of a haughty looking woman in a tiara. There were desks of various sizes with comfortable seats all around the space, and some very poofy chairs near the fireplace. On a large table near the right side was a massive chessboard, with pieces nearly a foot tall, and beautifully sculpted with gold and silver ornaments. And the books… Hermione's eyes were glowing at the bookshelves that ringed the room, and from a quick look around Harry saw that more than half of the first years felt the same way.

"Boys rooms are on the right, girls, the same on the left." The prefects directed them quickly off, and they had to say goodnight to Hermione. Harry ran up to her quickly and said,

"Meet me and Ron for breakfast here early tomorrow. There's something I need to tell you." She smiled at the invitation and they all went off to bed. The first year Boy's dormitory had 5 large beds with blue and bronze drapes. Along with Ron, there were 3 other boys in their house that year: Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Flavius Flume. Anthony and Michael seemed to already be good friends, but Flavius was asleep in 5 minutes. He was rather fat, and a mess of greasy blond hair. Harry and Ron took adjacent beds, and talked for a while before bed in hushed whispers.

"So we're finally here. Not where I expected to be, but that chess set looked amazing. I've never something that fancy before." Ron was still a bit off about being there, but it seemed like things would work out.

"After everything we've been through today the house we're in is the least of my concern. We almost died today. People died in front of me." Harry realized that the Auror Peter Winthrop who died for him was the first person he had seen die in person. In some ways it was his fault that the man had died.

"That's their job Harry. I had uncles who died fighting the Death Eaters. They knew the risks as much as these guys. And we're safe here. No one is going to attack Hogwarts. Not even You-Know-Who ever was brave enough to attack here."

"I know. Hermione almost saved me you know. She set one of them on fire when they caught me."

"Really?" She's braver than I thought. For all the teasing I gave her she's pretty cool. She saved my friend, and she's good for my ego. I mean it's nice to beat people at chess, but its more fun when the person is as smart as her."

"Well I'm glad to hear that. We really don't have much of a choice now though. You saw her. She picked up the DeathNote from the train. She'll see Vim as soon as she manages to find us again. And she'll always be haunting me. I think she has some sense of where I am at all times."

"It'll be ok Harry. She's willing to set a terrorist on fire for you. I think she'll keep a magic book secret. She'll probably go crazy trying to figure out everything she can about it."

That morning Harry and Ron told Hermione everything they could, minus info on Malfoy, and Vim came in right on cue. They had to leap to cover her mouth to keep her from screaming, but she quickly calmed down.

"I've never even heard of something like this! A magic notebook with that much power. A real death god." She went up to Vim and tried to stroke her wings.

"I'd rather you didn't." Vim said quieter than usual. "My wings are very sensitive, and your skin is very soft." She actually seemed to blush.

"I have GOT to go to the library about this. There must have been some witch or wizard who has seen this thing before. Oh this is excellent. Thank you so much you two. You can trust me. I'm so glad I found you so fast. I was terrified I wouldn't make any friends here. I'll see you two at class." With that she ran off to the library for a quick research session before class.

"She's not even going to get breakfast is she?" Ron said, watching her recede down the hall.

"She's definitely a hard worker." Said Harry. And thus began a beautiful friendship.

_In the Slytherin Common Room…_

Draco Malfoy was sitting alone in bed. Even his fellow Slytherins had mocked him incessantly for the Death Eater attack. Now that everyone knew they were after him and the _Potter _boy they couldn't stop bringing lumping them together, as if they were best friends or something.

"_It's all his fault!" _Draco thought. "_If only he was never everything at Hogwarts would be great, and these damned mudbloods and blood traitors wouldn't be rifling through my manor while I'm stuck here powerless. At least I'm away from that shapeshifting bitch and her mother… I'll make them forget everything about that botched train attack and make this place mine. The ministry didn't get everything before they stole me away from my mother._

Draco reached into the bag he kept by the side of his bed, and pulled out a small black book and quill, and began to write.

How do I kill Harry Potter?

The book answered.

_Oh, I think I can help you with that dear boy. Yes that sounds like a wonderful plan. I think you can begin by going to the girl's bathroom on the first floor. There's something there I'd like to show you._


	8. A Troll and a Snake

Arriving in the great hall to a mass of 100 screaming parents, reporters, ministry officials, and the entire teaching staff was not quite what Harry expected on his first day at school. Dumbledore was trying to calm the crowd down, but when they saw Harry coming down the grand staircase there was nothing to stop them aside from magic. The reporters streamed to the front first.

"Mr. Potter, how does it feel to have nearly been killed by the supporters of You-Know-Who?"

"Harry, do you think Hogwarts has failed in its mission to protect the students?"

"Potter, quick word for witch weekly? What is your favorite color? Do you like party girls or the shy type?"

The barrage came on randomly without giving Harry any time for a single word, when a man in a bowler hat stepped forward shouting, "**SILENCE!**" He came forward towards Harry, with Dumbledore on his heels. The bowler-hatted man quickly introduced himself to Harry as Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. He looked incredibly tired, with bloodshot eyes, slightly shivering hands, and he wasn't able to look entirely straight for very long. As the crowd gathered, many other students had begun to come down. One woman seemed to see her son and rush forward to grab him, but Dumbledore calmed them down, commanding the group to enter the great hall where he would address their concerns.

Harry and Ron quickly learned that the crowd was in an uproar concerning the attack on the Hogwarts Express. Parents had come to take their children home for fear of the loose Death Eaters. Several ministry departments were dispatched to make an inspection of the train and the school. So many owls had been sent to the ministry that morning that the minister himself had felt obliged to make an appearance. So it resolved that on September 2nd, 1991, school started late as the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and the Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore made a public address. Fudge began the proceedings.

"For all gathered here today, the facts as they are known to the auror office and the ministry at large stand thus. After the arrest of Narcissa Malfoy on July 31st due to known association with the late Death Eater Lucius Malfoy, a cabal of free Death Eaters began to plan an attempt to kidnap Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. From interrogating the 6 death eaters we captured yesterday it appears their plan was to make a grand show before Mrs. Malfoy revealed their identities to the ministry, and to get the most effective hostages available." Dumbledore pulled out his wand and 6 full-bodied images appeared in the air before them. They appeared to be made of silvery dust, but their features were very clear.

"These are the 6 death eaters we know escaped from the Hogwarts Express. Their names are Alecto Carrow, Amycus Carrow, Edward Nott, Henry Multox, Walden Macnair, and Cosmo Antonescu. "

"I have been up all night discussing the situation with Professor Dumbledore here." Started Fudge again, "and we have agreed that the only proper course of action is to set up a guard around the school." Dumbledore looked especially grieved when Fudge said this.

"I am in full belief that Hogwarts is fully capable of repulsing any attack by these criminals, but for the peace of mind I know this action will give, I am willing to allow a small contingent of dementors to guard the gates and skies outside of the school grounds. It is our hope to capture these last vestiges of Voldemort's followers and get back to our busy lives as normally and quickly as possible." The collective wince at Voldemort's name being spoken was audible to everyone in the room, but the announcement of guards was mixed. Some seemed horrified at the presence of dementors, and some seemed relieved that their children would be better protected.

"What are dementors again?" asked Vim, suddenly popping out of the ground. "I know the bearded one mentioned them last summer."

"They guard Azkaban Prison you git. I've never seen one, but they're supposed to make you feel like you'll never be happy again. They wear black cloaks and muggles can't see them."

"They sound like Shinigami then. I wonder if we're distant cousins or something…?"

Hermione managed to show up before the end of the speech, annoyed at having found nothing in the library, and equally annoyed to have missed so much of the speeches. But the school year needed to begin properly, and so the teachers rounded them up and shuffled them all off to class.

Classes that first day were like a dream come true for Harry. Actually getting to perform real magic with his own wand had seemed impossible up until the point he actually saw the feather floating in the air. He had expected to find Professor McGonagall a bit stuffy after seeing her at the sorting, but she turned out to be a highly sarcastic and enjoyable professor. Sadly Defense against the Dark Arts was painfully boring, with the stuttering professor Quirrel barely able to get through the introduction of their textbook. The day ended with the class that he had really been looking forward to, Study of Magical Books. He and Hermione said goodbye to Ron, and went off to the Library.

The Hogwarts library was tremendous, with stacks of dizzying heights in a huge vaulted room on the third floor. Some of the shelves were sculpted to look like trees, some were painted in ever shifting colors, and others were locked away in a restricted section. Through the bars leading into it Harry could see huge tomes locked to the shelves in chains, some even shaking violently. He and Hermione made their way to the annex where they would be having their classes. Because it was a new class and an elective, the first and second years of all four houses would be together in one class. The entire group was made up of about 15 students, including Cho Chang and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw. Harry recognized a few other first years from the sorting, but he didn't know any of their names. Cho came right over to sit with them.

"So how are you enjoying your first day at Hogwarts?" Cho asked with a grin. "Not getting too lost I hope."

"Only a couple of times." Harry admitted. "A ghost directed us once when we made a wrong turn on the 4th floor. She pointed us behind a tapestry and that got us where we needed."

"Yeah this place can be difficult but you'll get used to it soon."

"So what have you heard about this Professor Pince, Cho?" Hermione asked.

"Well if she's anything like here aunt Madam Pince, then she'll be dreadful. You haven't met her yet have you? She spends all her time trying to make sure that we don't do anything terrible to 'her' books. She hates the Ravenclaws the most because we're in the library more than the rest of the school."

Professor Pince made her way into the Annex. She had tied her long red hair into a braid that day, and was wearing standard black robes instead of the fancy violet ones from the Start of Term feast. She plopped down a pile of ten books she had been balancing in her arms on her desk, and addressed the class.

"Good afternoon everyone! I'm 'Professor Pince', but just call me Christina if you feel like it. I'm still not used to this who professor thing. So, if you can all bring out your textbooks "Magical Bookkeeping" and "History of Magical Writing". In this class you will be learning how to properly work with magical texts, how to create your own books, and learn about proper and respectful disposal. Now can anyone tell me the definition of a magical book?" Hermione's hand shot up immediately.

"Miss…" Professor Pince looked down at her roster, "Granger. Yes?"

"A magical book is any book that has had a charm, curse, transfiguration, or dark arts spell placed upon it. This can range from the simplest color-changing text to books that are alive."

"Quite right. 10 points to Ravenclaw. One of the primary aspects of magical books though, is that the spells are often nominally permanent. Most spells dissipate if the witch or wizard is not concentrating, but due to the fundamentally magical nature of words, spells tend to be more powerful and long lasting when attached to a book." She took out her wand, a medium length pinewood, and said, "Disillusio". The book in front of her looked as if the color was being leeched out of it in a gradient, until it was nearly invisible. "This book here is now under the disillusionment charm. It is often used to make simple cheap invisibility cloaks, but as I have cast it on a book, it is likely to hold for decades rather than weeks." She waved her wand again and said "Revalio", which undid the charm.

"Now, we are all beginners in this class, and so we will be starting mostly with the history of the art, but if we have time towards the end of today's lecture, we can begin to practice enchanting our copies."

They spent the next hour discussing the earliest scribes of wizarding Egypt, and how they discovered the magical properties of writing. By the end of the lesson, everyone knew they liked this young professor a lot. She gave points out without much effort, she was exceptionally good at getting a Gryffindor boy named Neville to speak, and didn't give any homework. They all tried the disillusionment charm a few times before they left, but only Hermione, Cho, and a Hufflepuff girl named Natsumi had managed it by the end. She gave each of them another 20 points for that and sent them off.

"That was amazing wasn't it Harry!" Hermione had loved it, as could be expected.

"She's really cool. I've got to get the hang of that disillusionment charm." Harry instantly saw the use of having that spell in his arsenal, especially for hiding the DeathNote better. He practiced halfway through the night, and eventually managed to get the notebook as invisible as Professor Pince had made her book.

The next day began with Magical Games, and things instantly were not as simple as Ron had expected them to be. Professor Selwyn was a former Quidditch and Football player (one of the only wizards to play in the muggle leagues), but he was a very strict teacher, and valued the theory far more than your average athlete.

"Now I know you came to my class expecting to just play games." He began. "But this is not just a fluff class. Here, you are to be trained in the ways of magical games and sports, how they are administrated, and how they are properly conducted. I expect you to turn in an essay a week, and we shall be reading extensively." Ron seemed crushed. Their first assignment was to read the entirety of "Quidditch through the Ages", and to write about how the sport had changed into its modern state.

"I can't believe the books class was easier than this!" Ron pouted as they left. "Why is it that you got the cute teacher, and I'm stuck with the drill sergeant?"

"So you think Professor Pince is cute Ronald?" Fred and George had shown up behind them.

"Does Icke-Ronikins the Ravenclaw think the librarian is cute?"

"Shove off." Ron tried to just walk off with Harry, but the twins pulled him back.

"Now how's that for you George? Our own brother. How are you Harry? Sorry you couldn't be in Gryffindor with us, but that's just the way it is. Enjoying being stuck with Ron here a bit longer?"

"Yeah, everything's going good." Harry smiled as Ron's brothers gave him a quick hair ruffle and wished them luck before heading into their own Games class."

"I hope Professor Selwyn gives the third years 2 essays a week." Ron said as they walked back to the Ravenclaw common room.

The trio finished their first week in Potions with the Hufflepuffs. Professor Snape was the worst type of person Harry could have imagined for a professor. Constantly mocking Harry's 'fame' and taking points off of him for no adequate reason. Harry knew he would need to drop that class as soon as he could…

The first week also involved something Harry was completely used to by now: Bullies. Draco Malfoy, flanked by what appeared to be two gorillas in robes, decided to make it his life's joy to see Harry suffer. He sicked his two cronies Crabbe and Goyle to try and beat him up a couple of times before they were put in detention, but kept up a consistent string of insults. It actually seemed highly pathetic most of the time, and so Harry made sure to give him as little attention as possible. Sadly he was stuck with the Slytherin boy in Herbology and History of Magic, the two classes that it was easiest for a snide comment to avoid detection. Hermione often offered to hex him, and Ron jokingly suggesting using the DeathNote on him (getting only glares from his two friends) but one day managed to trip Malfoy into a patch of gelatinous slime covered mushrooms. He turned around and saw Hermione instead of Ron, and shouted out,

"You'll get it for that you mudblood!"

Everything went mad after that. Ron leaped down at Malfoy, and Professor Sprout had to enchant two venomous tentacula to keep Crabbe and Goyle from beating Ron into a pulp. Sadly for Slytherin House Professor Sprout heard his comment and took 30 points away for his insult, though she also took 10 from Ravenclaw for Ron's attack.

"It was worth it. Can you believe that little spoiled brat?" They were walking away from the greenhouses.

"What was it he said anyway?" Asked Harry.

"Basically the most racist, foul thing someone can say to a muggle born person. It was worth it losing those points for getting to punch his effing face a few times."

Having Vim float around after him to his classes was less trouble than he expected. The shinigami truly did love to sleep more than 18 hours a day, so she was often away. She actually managed to be a help every once in a while, showing Harry where a class was or grabbing him some food from the Kitchens in the basement.

Things stayed much the same for the first two months of school. There was a huge to-do when the injured students finally came back from St. Mungos in Mid-October, and there was a special sorting for the new first year Terry Boot, who was sorted into Ravenclaw and moved into Harry's dorm. The excitement in the school was tactile as they approached Halloween, as another feast was to happen, and then soon after the Quidditch season would begin. Harry was excited to see that his friend Cho had made it onto the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, this year as a chaser, even though she really wanted to be a seeker.

"You should definitely come to the next practice Harry. It'd be nice to have a friend there watching." Cho seemed to be a very popular girl, but without a lot of close friends. Harry was glad to see that someone besides Ron and Hermione were making an effort to be his friend, and he made a pledge to hang out with her more often.

The Halloween feast was a tremendous event. Hundreds of great pumpkins hanging in the sky, all of the students' black cats running around. Professor McGonagall had conjured a swarm of bats to decorate the hall. Finally, a major change occurred that set the school screaming.

"**Troll in the dungeon!" **

Professor Quirrel ran into the Great Hall screaming, and promptly fainted in front of the headmaster. All of the students tried to run for the doors, but Dumbledore managed to calm everyone and have the prefects bring the students back to the dormitories. Harry was about to leave the hall when Cho came wheeling up to Harry.

"Harry! Marietta is still in the bathroom! We need to get her before we go back upstairs!" Harry vaguely recalled that Marietta was one of the many girls that followed Cho around.

"Alright, but let's hurry." The four of them quickly rushed off to the first floor bathroom where Marietta was supposed to be. As they ran Harry heard a strange voice coming from nowhere and everywhere at once.

_Kill_

_Oh So Long Since a Kill…._

_Come to me little one. Oh Flesh and Blood._

_Kill!_

"Oh god what is that stench?" Ron asked, plugging his nose. At the same moment harry heard this awful voice, they were all struck by a terrible smell, something like a combination of feces and rotten meat. "That can't be the bathroom can it?" The bathroom was at the end of the long hallway adjacent to the dungeons, and they heard a loud groaning coming from within the bathroom. As they approached, the smell was obviously coming from the bathroom. That's when a low scream came, and a wave of red liquid shot under the door. Hermione pulled up her shoes and said, "It's BLOOD." They barged into the room, and saw a gruesome site.

Lying in a pile on the floor of the bathroom was the troll, which looked to have been torn apart by some large bladed weapon. The troll was nearly 12 feet tall, and the wounds in its chest were still bleeding profusely. Lying next to the body was a crumpled girl with reddish blonde hair.

"Marietta!" Cho rushed towards her friend, and turned her over. Her eyes were wide open and glassy, but she seemed unconscious. Cho shook her repeatedly but she wouldn't move. Harry had to pull Cho off of Marietta while Hermione and Ron went off to find the teachers. Harry's body was shivering nearly as much as Cho's. His hands were sticky with the troll blood, and he felt like he needed to vomit. Vim was surveying the scene and making snide comments, but Harry had to hold back everything he could not to yell at her for talking at that moment. Harry kept repeating that everything was going to be ok, until the teachers showed up soon after. Madam Pomfrey took Harry and Cho to the Hospital Wing.

"You children are in shock. Take this." She proffered them a ladleful of green liquid that helped with the shaking. She took them in back separately to clean off the blood, and gave them hospital gowns to wear instead of their blood soaked clothes.

"I've never seen a more horrific site, and I was here during the last war." Madam Pomfrey was busying herself with Marietta who still couldn't move. "What could have happened to make this poor girl petrified like this. And that troll…"

"You will be able to help her won't you?" Cho asked. She was still worried sick, even after the medicine stopped her sobbing.

"Sadly there's not much I can do with what I have here, Ms. Chang. Petrification like your friend Ms. Edgecombe has suffered is beyond the realm of the medicine I have here. But she is in fine condition for having been near that troll and whatever happened to it. I am certain she shall make a full recovery.

Harry and Cho stayed in the Hospital Wing overnight, where Hermione and Ron came to visit.

"So what did you guys think that voice was?" Harry asked.

"What voice Harry?" Cho asked.

"The one going 'Kill' before we found the Troll. I don't think trolls can sound like that can they?" They all looked at him like he was crazy.

"What? So you didn't hear anything?"

"No mate, nothing." Ron looked at Harry closely. "Are you sure you're feeling ok?"

"I think he's gone a bit mad. Most DeathNote users do, I've heard." Vim had chosen to wake up for that conversation. Ron gave her a shifty look when Cho was looking away.

_So what was that voice then? _Harry thought, later that night. He sat awake in the Hospital Wing, considering what he saw. Even after everything else, this still surprised him. The wing was very quiet in the early morning. Looking out the window, he saw Hedwig pecking against the window. He got up and let her in, where she promptly cuddled up next to him.

"You've come to visit have you? Well come over here." He took the bird over to his bed where he could stroke her feathers as he tried to get to sleep. He looked over at Cho, asleep, and felt incredibly awkward. He had just made it a point to get to know her better, and then one of her best friends nearly dies. _I'll have to get her something nice. Cheer her up so she isn't too freaked out to play in the Quidditch game next month._

The next few days of school were cancelled so that an investigation could take place. It was ascertained that somehow Marietta had been cursed into paralysis, and she would need to be taken to a Mandrake farm in Greece for the remedy, as the treatment was very difficult and the ingredients very rare. It was uncertain how the troll had gotten into the building, or how it had died, but the gossip was that Marietta herself had used some curse that killed the creature but rebounded onto herself. Only the most skeptical believed that version of the story, but no one else had any legitimate theories._ . _Harry thought good and long about who or what could have done this, even spending an afternoon with Hermione in the library researching but came up short. He knew he would have to leave it at some point, as his homework was piling up again. _I'll figure this out someday. Whatever happened, this isn't over yet._

_In the deep dungeons beneath the lake…_

_ You Foolish Boy!_

Draco read the words with fear. He knew that it was his fault the plan had failed, but couldn't admit that for worry about what would happen.

"How was I supposed to know that a Troll would get in? It's not like that normally happens you know?" He wrote furiously, doing his best to get out of these chambers as fast as possible.

_ You shut the book! How am I supposed to control the beast if I cannot speak to it! A pathetic whelp like you could never hope to learn the art of parseltongue without me!_

"Ok! What do you need me to do?" Draco's scrawl was sucked into the book faster than usual, as if the diary was impatient to finish the conversation.

_For now, we wait. Continue to write in the diary. I can give you more power the more you write. You do want the power I possess, do you not?_

"Yes of course!"

_Then for now we lie in wait. Wait until the middle of November. By that time, we will have a chance to make a grand statement. To tell the world to fear the Heir of Slytherin. To let them know that he Chamber of Secrets is open again. _

Around Draco slithered the great basilisk. A slithering voice was constantly issuing from the open diary, keeping the beast at bay. Every once in a while it's fangs would drip sizzling poison onto the stones of the chamber, and give Draco a shiver of fear. He would continue to write. He would take the power of Salazar Slytherin himself, and become the new Dark Lord. Soon enough he would control the great snake himself, and then he could ditch this diary down the drain.

_In Professor Quirrel's Office…_

_The Chamber has been opened…_

"But how is that possible my lord? I thought the chamber of secrets was a myth?"

_Of course not fool. Do you doubt the power of the founder of our house? No, the chamber is real, but only I should be able to open it. Somehow, someone in this school has managed to steal my power, and I'm going to find out how. We must move quickly, my faithful servant. Time to accelerate our plans._


End file.
